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2/29/2012
What’s Your Part?
By Max Lucado
“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. Ephesians 1:11-12”
The poster read: High School Musical - Oklahoma! Tryouts next Thursday and Friday.
I was a high school sophomore, brimming with untapped and undiscovered talent. Besides, I already had the boots, hat and accent. Why not?
My audition was stellar until I opened my mouth to sing. The director asked about my theater experience. I told him I went to the movies about once a month. That was enough for him. He gave me a script and the page number for my part. Page number, not numbers. As I knelt over the body of a just-shot cowboy, I was to cry in desperation, “He’s daid!” I poured my heart and soul into that line!
What’s your part? Don’t think for a moment you don’t have one. God wrote you into his story. No assignment too small. No lines too brief.
Play the part God prepared for you! And get ready for some great days!
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"Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil" (II. Kings iv. 2).
He asked her, "What hast thou in the house?" And she said, "Nothing but a pot of oil." But that pot of oil was adequate for all her wants, if she had only known how to use it.
In truth it represented the Holy Spirit, and the great lesson of the parable is that the Holy Ghost is adequate ...for all our wants, if we only know how to use Him.
All that she needed was to get sufficient vessels to hold the overflow, and then to pour out until all were filled.
And so the Holy Spirit is limited only by our capacity to receive Him, and when God wants us to have a larger fulness, He has to make room for it by creating greater needs.
God sends us new vessels to be filled with His Holy Spirit in the needs that come to us, and the trials that meet us. These are God's opportunities for God to give us more of Himself, and as we meet them He comes to us in larger fulness for each new necessity.
Lord, help me to see Thee in all my trying situations and to make them vessels to hold more of Thy grace.
A. B. Simpson
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Step-By-Step Grace
"When thou passest through the waters...they shall not overflow thee" (Isa. 43:2).
God does not open paths for us in advance of our coming. He does not promise help before help is needed. He does not remove obstacles out of our way before we reach them. Yet when we are on the edge of our need, God's hand is stretched out.
Many people forget this, and are forever worrying about difficulties which they foresee in the future. They expect that God is going to make the way plain and open before them, miles and miles ahead; whereas He has promised to do it only step by step as they may need. You must get to the waters and into their floods before you can claim the promise. Many people dread death, and lament that they have not "dying grace." Of course, they will not have dying grace when they are in good health, in the midst of life's duties, with death far in advance. Why should they have it then? Grace for duty is what they need then, living grace; then dying grace when they come to die.
--J. R. M.
"When thou passest through the waters"
Deep the waves may be and cold,
But Jehovah is our refuge,
And His promise is our hold;
For the Lord Himself hath said it,
He, the faithful God and true:
"When thou comest to the waters
Thou shalt not go down, BUT THROUGH."
Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,
Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation
Sweeping over heart and brain
They shall never overflow us
For we know His word is true;
All His waves and all His billows
He will lead us safely through.
Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubt's insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the Lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH."
--Annie Johnson Flint
Streams in the Desert
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All the Children of Israel had Light in their dwellings. Exodus 10:23
WITHOUT, darkness that might be felt; within, light. This should be the condition of each believing heart. The sun may have gone down, and the moon withdrawn herself in the firmament of the world; the darkness of perplexity and trouble may envelop Pharaoh and all his chosen counsellors; all things may wear the aspec...t of approaching dissolution: but with the Lord as our everlasting Light we walk in the light of life.
Light is purity. - The soul which is exposed to the indwelling of God, purifies itself even as He is pure; and walks as Jesus did, with white and stainless robes. He that says he has fellowship with the Holy God, and walks in the darkness of his own lusts, lies. Where God is really hidden in the heart, the beams of His lovely purity must irradiate and beautify the life.
Light is knowledge. - There is a wisdom, an insight, an understanding of the Divine mysteries, which the mere intellect could never give, but are the product of the Divine indwelling m the holy soul. All around men may be groping aimlessly after truth, trying to discover the secret of the Universe, whilst to the loving, childlike soul, in which God has taken up His abode, these things, which are hidden from the wise and prudent, are unveiled.
Light is love. - It steals so gently over the world, blessing flowers and birds, little children and invalids. Everywhere it is the symbol of the beneficent work of its Creator. His eldest daughter! Thus amid the selfishness of the world, let Jesus dwell deep in thee, that thou mayest be rooted and grounded in the love of God, which shall illumine thy dwelling, and ray out to the world.
F. B. Meyer
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Charles Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby says this, "Among men who have any sound and sterling qualities, there is nothing so contagious as pure openness of heart." Christ, then, opens His heart to you; will you not respond by opening yours to Him? Christ wants to deal with you in perfect frankness; will you not be frank and honest in return? Make no concealment. Do not excuse yourself. Trust Him, and tell Him all the story. A confidence like that He always honors with a blessing which is heaven begun.
George H. Morrison
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"And hath put all things under his feet." Ephesians 1:22
How vast, how numerous, how complicated are the various events and circumstances which attend the Church of God here below, as she travels onward to her heavenly home! But if all things as well as all persons are put under Jesus' feet, there cannot be a single circumstance over which he has not supreme control. Everything in providence and everything in grace are alike subject to his disposal. There is not a trial or temptation, an affliction of body or soul, a loss, a cross, a painful bereavement, a vexation, grief or disappointment, a case, state or condition, which is not put under Jesus' feet. He has sovereign, supreme disposal over all events and circumstances. As possessed of infinite knowledge he sees them, as possessed of infinite wisdom he can manage them, and as possessed of infinite power he can dispose and direct them for our good and his own glory. How much trouble and anxiety should we save ourselves, could we firmly believe, realise, and act on this! If we could see by the eye of faith that every foe and every fear, every difficulty and perplexity, every trying or painful circumstance, every looked-for or unlooked-for event, every source of care, whether at present or in prospect, are all, as put under his feet, at his sovereign disposal, what a load of anxiety and care would be often taken off our shoulders!
J. C. Philpot
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RAISING GREAT KIDS
Philippians 2:2
Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose
Most Christian parents would do the right thing if they were sure what the right thing was. But what does a good parent do? Should you try to control your children? Is loving them the same as controlling them? Is controlling them the same as disciplining them? What kind of parents produce the following? Children who have a good self-image and are happy being who they are. Children who conform to the authority of others and have the capacity to get along with their teachers and other authority figures. Children who follow the religious beliefs of their parents, attend the church of their parents.
The two most powerful influences in parenting are control and support. Parental control is defined as the ability to manage a child's behavior. You can coerce your kids through intimidation, verbally batter them into submission, lay a guilt trip on them, or firmly establish boundaries and provide choices.
Parental support is defined as the ability to make a child feel loved. You need to do more than simply tell your child that you love him in order to help him feel loved. You must be physically and emotionally available in such a way that your child knows that you love him. Your love comes across in the way you communicate with and touch your child throughout the day.
The best children come from parents who can manage their behavior and communicate their unconditional love. The worst children come from homes where they are controlled but not loved. You may not be able to manage your child's behavior, but by the grace of God you can love him.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, I need Your wisdom to help me love my children unconditionally and manage their behavior.
Neil T. Anderson
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Love? Or Knowledge?
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
A little girl was reading the Bible one day and came across a picture of angels. She asked her daddy, “What is the difference between a cherubim and a seraphim?” Well, this daddy didn’t know, but he took her to the encyclopedia and they looked for the answer.
He discovered the cherubim excelled in knowledge, and seraphim excelled in love.
The little girl thought for a minute and said, “When I die, I will be a seraphim. I’d rather love God than know everything.” That’s pretty good!
First Corinthians 13:2 says, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” Love excels knowledge.
Adrian Rogers
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2/28/2012
Just Believe
By Max Lucado
Those who know your name trust in you; for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10
The presence of fear doesn’t mean you have no faith!
My dad loved to fish for trout on the edge of the white water rivers of the Rockies. He knew the currents were dangerous and that his sons could be careless. He’d scout out the safe places to cross the river. He’d walk us down the bank until we found a line of stable rocks. He’d test the stones, knowing if they held him, they’d hold us. Then he’d signal us to follow.
“Don’t be afraid—trust me!” he’d say. And we children never needed coaxing.
But we adults often do! Does a river of fear run between you and Jesus? If you wave Jesus away, joy will die, laughter will perish, and tomorrow will be buried in today’s grave of dread. Don’t make that mistake.
Give the day a chance. Believe He can. Believe He cares. Just—believe!
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"Count it all joy" (James i. 2).
We do not always feel joyful, but we are to count it all joy. The word "reckon" is one of the key-words of Scripture. It is the same word used about our being dead. We do not feel dead. We are painfully conscious of something that would gladly return to life. But we are to treat ourselves as dead, and neither fear nor obey the old nature.
So we are to reckon the thing that comes as a blessing. We are determined to rejoice, to say, "My heart is fixed, O God, I will sing and give praise." This rejoicing, by faith, will soon become a habit, and will ever bring speedily the spirit of gladness and the spontaneous overflow of praise.
Then, "although the fig-tree may wither and no fruit appear in the vines, the labor of the olive fail and the fields yield no increase, the herd be cut off from the stall, and the cattle from the field, yet we will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation."
"Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round,
On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found;
Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown,
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne."
A. B. Simpson
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Being Proven
"There he proved them" (Exod. 15:25).
I stood once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point, and also marked. The master of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in the great ship, building, or bridge. He knew this because his testing room revealed it.
It is often so with God's children. God does not want us to be like vases of glass or porcelain. He would have us like these toughened pieces of steel, able to bear twisting and crushing to the uttermost without collapse.
He wants us to be, not hothouse plants, but storm-beaten oaks; not sand dunes driven with every gust of wind, but granite rocks withstanding the fiercest storms. To make us such He must needs bring us into His testing room of suffering.
Many of us need no other argument than our own experiences to prove that suffering is indeed God's testing room of faith.--J. H. McC
It is very easy for us to speak and theorize about faith, but God often casts us into crucibles to try our gold, and to separate it from the dross and alloy. Oh, happy are we if the hurricanes that ripple life's unquiet sea have the effect of making Jesus more precious. Better the storm with Christ than smooth waters without Him.--Macduff
What if God could not manage to ripen your life without suffering?
Streams in the DesertSee More
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Only in Goshen, where the Children of Israel were, was there no hail. Exodus 9:26
Those who are included in the provisions of the covenant are sealed. The storm may sweep around them, but the great angel, who ascends from the east, cries with a great voice to the angels to whom it is given to hurt the earth, and the sea, and the trees, saying, Hurt them not till we have sealed the ser...vants of God in their foreheads (Rev 7:3).
The only spot on which the soul is safe is within the encircling provisions of the covenant. Israel stood there, and was safe - not only from the hail, but from the destroying sword. The invulnerable walls of that sacred enclosure were the oath and promise of God to Abraham. God had bound himself by the most solemn sanctions to be a God to this people, and deliver them; it was necessary, therefore, that He should be their pavilion and canopy, catching the hailstones on His outstretched wings and securing them from hurt.
The covenant is entered, not by merit nor by works. There was neither the one nor the other in that race of slaves; but they stood there simply because of their relationship to the Friend of God. So we enter the blessed safety of the better covenant, through our relationship with the Lord Jesus, who is the Beloved of the Father, the one glorious and blessed Man. Without beauty or merit, the soul attaches itself by faith to Him, and discovers that it was loved before the worlds were made.
Ah, blessed Lover of souls, we see how the storm swept Thy heart, that it might never touch us. Thou art our hiding-place, our shield, our deliverer, our strong tower. Without dismay we Can anticipate the storms of death, judgment, and eternity, sure that wherever Thou art there can be no hail.
F. B. Meyer
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"God, who is rich in mercy." Ephesians 2:4
Mercy well suits a sensible sinner; and the riches of God's mercy especially suit those who are brought down in real extremity of soul to see and feel how abundant he must be in mercy, how overflowing in the exceeding riches of his grace, that they may venture to entertain a hope of an interest in it, as freely coming down to them in their low and lost estate. We know mercy, feelingly and experimentally, before we know love. Love is first in God, but it is not first in our experience of it; nor do we go to God when made first to feel our need of mercy, as if we were objects of his love, or could venture to entertain the remotest idea that a God so holy could love a sinner so vile; but we go to him to obtain mercy, as the Apostle speaks: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Mercy is the first thing sought for at the throne of grace; and when this mercy is obtained, then grace is ever after continually sought for to help the helpless and dependent soul in every time of need, which need lasts all through life; and until grace is swallowed up in glory. Was not the simple plea for mercy the publican's prayer in the temple, "God be merciful to me a sinner?" And such has been the prayer of all and every one, whose heart has been touched by the finger of God.
J. C. Philpot
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Sowing to the Spirit
James 3:9-18
In all our daily choices, we either "sow to the flesh" or "sow to the Spirit" (Gal. 6:8). With our actions and thoughts, we plant seeds that affect what kind of person we're growing into and the level of impact our lives will have for God.
"The flesh" is the part of us that wants to live and act independently of the Lord. As humans, all of us have to deal with the pull of this attitude; we don't lose it automatically when we're saved. However, the Holy Spirit frees us from slavery to the flesh. He begins to change us so we can turn from the deceptive lure of living for self and instead start to live according to the truth. The choices we make contribute to the process of transformation, and when they're in alignment with the Spirit's work, they plant good seed that results in even more new growth.
When you're sowing to the Spirit, you're accepting God's truth into your mind and heart. Then you'll begin to experience eternal life, which comes from truly knowing the Lord (John 17:3). The fruit of the Spirit grows naturally from these seeds of godly truth and influences every aspect of your life. When you feed your spirit with the things of God, you're going to become stronger, more Christlike, and more full of His life in your thoughts and actions.
Are you feeding your spirit and the wellspring of your life, or are you feeding the part of you that wants to act independently of God? Do your choices sow seeds that are building you up, making you different, and letting streams of living water flow from you to nourish others (John 7:37-39)?
Charles Stanley
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WALKING BY FAITH
Colossians 2:6, 7
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith
Some Christians believe that walking by faith means being carried along by a mysterious, ethereal, indescribable inner sense called "faith." But the walk of faith is much more practical and definable than that. Walking by faith simply means that you function in daily life on the basis of what you believe. Your belief system determines your behavior. If your behavior is off in a certain area, you need to correct your belief in that area because your misbehavior is the result of your misbelief.
"But how can I know what I really believe?" you may ask. Take a few minutes to complete the following statements as concisely and truthfully as possible.
I would be more successful if . . .
I would be more significant if . . .
I would be more fulfilled if . . .
I would be more satisfied if . . .
I would be happier if . . .
I would have more fun if . . .
I would be more secure if . . .
I would have more peace if . . .
Whatever you believe is the answer to these statements constitutes your present belief system.
Assuming that your basic physiological needs (food, shelter, safety, etc.) are met, you will be motivated in life by what you believe will bring your success, significance, fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness, fun, security and peace. If what you believe about these eight values does not line up with what God says about them, your walk of faith will be off to the same degree that your belief is off.
Prayer: Father, enable me to grow in my understanding of Your Word today so my faith-walk will be strengthened.
Neil T. Anderson
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Real Estate in Heaven
"Knowing in yourselves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance" (Hebrews 10:34).
This is well. Our substance here is very unsubstantial; there is no substance in it. But God has given us a promise of real estate in the gloryland, and that promise comes to our hearts with such full assurance of its certainty that we know in ourselves that we have an endu...ring substance there. Yes, "we have" it even now. They say, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," but we have our bird in the bush and in the hand, too. Heaven is even now our own. We have the title deed of it, we have the earnest of it, we have the firstfruits of it. We have heaven in price, in promise, and in principle; this we know not only by the hearing of the ear but "in ourselves."
Should not the thought of the better substance on the other side of Jordan reconcile us to present losses? Our spending money we may lose, but our treasure is safe. We have lost the shadows, but the substance remains, for our Savior lives, and the place which He has prepared for us abides. There is a better land, a better substance, a better promise; and all this comes to us by a better covenant; wherefore, let us be in better spirits, and say unto the LORD, "Every day will I bless thee; and praise thy name for ever and ever."
Charles Spurgeon
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2/27/2012
God’s Love Does Not Change!
Hosea 11:8
“How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me. All my compassions are kindled.
God’s love does not change!
Some people refer to “the God of the Old Testament”, as though God changed when the New Testament started. But God did not change. When you read the Old Testament stories of God’s relationship to Israel, they show God relating to that nation just like He relates to us as individuals today.
God loved them. He forgave them time and time again as they continually went through a process of returning to Him, then falling away, then returning again in repentance. Each time they turned back to God, He was waiting to restore their relationship with Him, waiting to bless them again.
Romans 8:35 asks, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” And the answer—“Nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (vv. 35-39, NLT).
That same kind of persistent love as God expressed to Israel, He has for you today. Are you one of God’s children? His heart is full of compassion for you. Stop worrying that God will stop loving or receiving you, and focus on loving Him back!
Time With God
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Waiting for Your Sunrise
“For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” - Psalm 30:5
God allows us to have “blue” seasons where there is more weeping than laughing. What we must remember is, it is only for a season. That is crucial. Joy will come in the morning, just as sure as the sunrise.
If you get up tomorrow morning to see the sunrise, let me tell you what not to do. Don’t try to make it hurry up. You can’t do it. You can get a brass band and some cheerleaders, but that sun is not going to come up one second sooner than God intends.
Waiting on the Lord is like waiting on the sun to come up. You can’t hurry it. You also can’t stop it. God is going to bring a sunrise to your soul. Just wait for it. And trust Him while you wait.
Adrian Rogers
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A COMPASSIONATE COUNSELOR
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means, "I desire compassion, and not sacrifice"
I used to ask my seminary students two questions: What attributes, strengths and characteristics would you look for in a person with whom you could share your deepest personal problems? Would you be willing to commit yourself to become that kind of person--someone others could confide in?
The essential prerequisite for a Christian counselor is to become the kind of person with whom others feel confident in sharing the problems of their present and past. Christian counseling doesn't require a college degree, although those who counsel professionally can be greatly helped by receiving Bible-based training. Whether you sit on the platform or in the pew, whether you sit at a desk in a counseling clinic or at a dining room table, God can use you to minister to people with problems if you are compassionate.
You can't really help a person unless you hear his whole story, and you won't hear it unless you are the kind of person he can trust. People don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. Compassion is not a question of learning a professional technique; it's a question of Christian character and love.
Counseling seeks to help people deal with the present by resolving conflicts from the past. Many of these conflicts relate to areas of bondage where Satan-induced strongholds have been erected in the mind. People cannot grow and mature because they are not free. The goal of Christian counseling--whether done by a pastor, a professional counselor, or a friend--is to help people experience freedom in Christ so they can move on to maturity and fruitfulness in their walk with Him.
Prayer: Lord, increase my compassion so I can be an effective counselor of others. Keep me from jumping to self-righteous conclusions.
Neil T. Anderson
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Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed_.--PS. xxxvii. 3.
Build a little fence of trust
Around to-day;
Fill the space with loving work,
And therein stay;
Look not through the sheltering bars
Upon to-morrow,
God will help thee bear what comes,
Of joy or sorrow.
MARY FRANVES BUTTS.
Let us bow our souls and say, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord!" Let us
lift up our hearts and ask, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" Then
light from the opened heaven shall stream on our daily task, revealing the
grains of gold, where yesterday all seemed dust; a hand shall sustain us
and our daily burden, so that, smiling at yesterday's fears, we shall say,
"This is easy, this is light;" every "lion in the way," as we come up
to it, shall be seen chained, and leave open the gates of the Palace
Beautiful; and to us, even to us, feeble and fluctuating as we are,
ministries shall be assigned, and through our hands blessings shall be
conveyed in which the spirits of just men made perfect might delight.
ELIZABETH CHARLES.
Daily Strength Devotional
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Unstaggering Trustfulness
"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD" (Psalm 112:7).
Suspense is dreadful. When we have no news from home, we are apt to grow anxious, and we cannot be persuaded that "no news is good news." Faith is the cure for this condition of sadness; the LORD by His Spirit settles the mind in holy serenity, and all fear is gone as to the future as well as the present.
The fixedness of heart spoken of by the psalmist is to be diligently sought after. It is not believing this or that promise of the LORD, but the general condition of unstaggering trustfulness in our God, the confidence which we have in Him that He will neither do us ill Himself nor suffer anyone else to harm us. This constant confidence meets the unknown as well as the known of life. Let the morrow be what it may, our God is the God of tomorrow. Whatever events may have happened, which to us are unknown, our Jehovah is God of the unknown as well as of the known. We are determined to trust the LORD, come what may. If the very worst should happen, our God is still the greatest and best. Therefore will we not fear though the postman's knock should startle us or a telegram wake us at midnight. The LORD liveth, and what can His children fears.
Charles Spurgeon
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For the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified - John 7:39
Calvary must precede the Ascension, and both must come before Pentecost. The glorified Lord was the text on which the Spirit was to discourse, and the text must be complete before the sermon can commence. Moreover, it was only when our Lord had ascended to the right hand of the Father, that He could recei...ve or transmit the Divine Comforter. It was needful for Him to be by the right hand of God exalted, before He could ask for and receive, and shed forth the Holy Spirit of promise. The one Paraclete must finish His work, and be withdrawn, ere the other could come to take up and finish His work on earth. The Son must sit down on the throne, or the Spirit could not descend to sit on each of the disciples.
But there is a deep inner lesson for us all in these words. We sometimes wonder why we have not received the Spirit, and why our lives are not channels through which He pours in mighty rivers to make desert hearts and lives blossom and sing. How gladly would we part with all beside, if we might be conscious that not tiny streamlets, not one river of holy influence merely, but that rivers were issuing from us as the waters from the temple threshold!
Is not the reason to be sought in our neglect to glorify Christ? We have never yet abandoned ourselves to Him, content to live the branch-life, with no other aim than to realize the one purpose of His most blessed life, the glorifying of the Father. We have never seriously made it our life-purpose to glorify the Lord Jesus. There has been no triumphal entry into our hearts, no enthronization, no challenge to the gates of our soul that they should lift themselves up to admit the King of Glory.
F. B. Meyer
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Isolation
"And he took him aside from the multitude" (Mark 7:33).
Paul not only stood the tests in Christian activity, but in the solitude of captivity. You may stand the strain of the most intense labor, coupled with severe suffering, and yet break down utterly when laid aside from all religious activities; when forced into close confinement in some prison house.
That noble bird, soaring the highest above the clouds and enduring the longest flights, sinks into despair when in a cage where it is forced to beat its helpless wings against its prison bars. You have seen the great eagle languish in its narrow cell with bowed head and drooping wings. What a picture of the sorrow of inactivity.
Paul in prison. That was another side of life. Do you want to see how he takes it? I see him looking out over the top of his prison wall and over the heads of his enemies. I see him write a document and sign his name--not the prisoner of Festus, nor of Caesar; not the victim of the Sanhedrin; but the--"prisoner of the Lord." He saw only the hand of God in it all. To him the prison becomes a palace. Its corridors ring with shouts of triumphant praise and joy.
Restrained from the missionary work he loved so well, he now built a new pulpit--a new witness stand--and from that place of bondage come some of the sweetest and most helpful ministries of Christian liberty. What precious messages of light come from those dark shadows of captivity.
Think of the long train of imprisoned saints who have followed in Paul's wake. For twelve long years Bunyan's lips were silenced in Bedford jail. It was there that he did the greatest and best work of his life. There he wrote the book that has been read next to the Bible. He says, "I was at home in prison and I sat me down and wrote, and wrote, for joy did make me write."
The wonderful dream of that long night has lighted the pathway of millions of weary pilgrims. That sweet-spirited French lady, Madam Guyon, lay long between prison walls. Like some caged birds that sing the sweeter for their confinement, the music of her soul has gone out far beyond the dungeon walls and scattered the desolation of many drooping hearts.
Oh, the heavenly consolation that has poured forth from places of solitude!
--S. G. Rees
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"Taken aside by Jesus,
To feel the touch of His hand;
To rest for a while in the shadow
Of the Rock in a weary land.
"Taken aside by Jesus,
In the loneliness dark and drear,
Where no other comfort may reach me,
Than His voice to my heart so dear.
"Taken aside by Jesus,
To be quite alone with Him,
To hear His wonderful tones of love
'Mid the silence and shadows dim.
"Taken aside by Jesus,
Shall I shrink from the desert place;
When I hear as I never heard before,
And see Him 'face to face'?"
Streams in the Desert
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2/26/2012
Nothing Satisfies
"It is not in me" (Job 28:14).
I remember a summer in which I said, "It is the ocean I need," and I went to the ocean; but it seemed to say, "It is not in me!" The ocean did not do for me what I thought it would. Then I said, "The mountains will rest me," and I went to the mountains, and when I awoke in the morning there stood the grand mountain that I had wanted so much to see; but it said, "It is not in me!" It did not satisfy. Ah! I needed the ocean of His love, and the high mountains of His truth within. It was wisdom that the "depths" said they did not contain, and that could not be compared with jewels or gold or precious stones. Christ is wisdom and our deepest need. Our restlessness within can only be met by the revelation of His eternal friendship and love for us.
--Margaret Bottome
"My heart is there!
'Where, on eternal hills, my loved one dwells
Among the lilies and asphodels;
Clad in the brightness of the Great White Throne,
Glad in the smile of Him who sits thereon,
The glory gilding all His wealth of hair
And making His immortal face more fair
THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.
"My heart is there!
'With Him who made all earthly life so sweet,
So fit to live, and yet to die so meet;
So mild, so grand, so gentle and so brave,
So ready to forgive, so strong to save.
His fair, pure Spirit makes the Heavens more fair,
And thither rises all my longing prayer
THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there."
--Favorite poem of the late Chas. E. Cowman
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Truth Established
"The lip of Truth shall be established for ever; but a lying tongue is but for a moment" (Proverbs 12:19).
Truth wears well. Time tests it, but it right well endures the trial. R; then, I have spoken the truth and have for the present to suffer for it, I must be content to wait. If also I believe the truth of God and endeavor to declare it, I may meet with much opposition, but I need not fear, for ultimately the truth must prevail.
What a poor thing is the temporary triumph of falsehood! "A lying lip is but for a moment!" It is a mere gourd which comes up in a night and perishes in a night; and the greater its development the more manifest its decay. On the other hand, how worthy of an immortal being is the avowal and defense of that truth which can never change; the everlasting gospel, which is established in the immutable truth of an unchanging God! An old proverb saith, "He that speaks truth shames the devil." Assuredly he that speaks the truth of God will put to shame all the devils in hell and confound all the seed of the serpent which now hiss out their falsehoods.
O my heart, take care that thou be in all things on the side of truth, both in small things and great; but specially, on the side of Him by whom grace and truth have come among men!
Charles Spurgeon
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The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.--PS. cxlv. 18.
I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.--PS. xxxiv. 4.
Be Thou, O Rock of Ages, nigh!
So shall each murmuring thought be gone;
And grief and fear and care shall fly,
As clouds before the mid-day sun.
C. WESLEY.
Take courage, and turn your troubles, which are without remedy, into material for spiritual progress. Often turn to our Lord, who is watching you, poor frail little being as you are, amid your labors and distractions. He sends you help, and blesses your affliction. This thought should enable you to bear your troubles patiently and gently, for love of Him who only allows you to be tried for your own good. Raise your heart continually to God, seek His aid, and let the foundation stone of your consolation be your happiness in being His. All vexations and annoyances will be comparatively unimportant while you know that you have such a Friend, such a Stay, such a Refuge. May God be ever in your heart.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
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When I go down to the grave I can say, like so many others, I have finished my work; but I cannot say I have finished my life; my day's work will begin again the next morning. My tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes in the twilight to open in the dawn.
—Victor Hugo.
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There's nothing bright above, below,
From flowers that bloom to stars that glow,
But in the light my soul can see
Some feature of the Deity.
There's nothing dark below, above,
But in its gloom I trace God's love,
And meekly wait that moment when
His truth shall turn all bright again.
—Thomas Moore.
Jehovah redeemeth the soul of his servants;
And none of them that take refuge in him shall be condemned.
—Psalm 34. 22.
Lord God, may I not only feel the need of thee when I am burdened with sorrow and care, but may I have need of thee in my pleasures and joys. I thank thee for thy gracious kindness, thy mercy and thy protection. Amen.
Leaves of Life
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FREE TO CHOOSE
2 Corinthians 3:17
The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty
The Spirit-filled walk is neither characterized by license nor legalism, but liberty. Paul stated that we are "servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life . . . Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:6, 17).
I believe that our freedom in Christ is one of the most precious commodities we have received from our spiritual union with God. Because the Spirit of the Lord is in you, you are free to choose to live a responsible and moral life. You are no longer compelled to walk according to the flesh as you were before conversion. And now you are not even compelled to walk according to the Spirit. You are free to choose to walk according to the Spirit or to walk according to the flesh.
Walking according to the Spirit implies two things. First, it's not passive. We're talking about walking in the Spirit, not sitting in the Spirit. One of the most dangerous and harmful detriments to your spiritual growth is passivity--putting your mind in neutral and coasting. The Christian classic War on the Saints , by Jessie Penn-Lewis, was written to combat such passive thinking. Sitting back and waiting for God to do everything is not God's way to spiritual maturity.
Second, we're talking about walking in the spirit, not running in the Spirit. The Spirit-filled life is not achieved through endless, exhausting activity. We mistakenly think that the harder we work for God, the more spiritual we will become. That's a subtle lie from the enemy. Satan knows that he may not be able to stop you from serving God by making you immoral, but he can probably impede your service by simply making you busy. Our service for God can become the greatest detriment of our devotion to God.
Prayer: Lord, I desire to walk according to the Spirit today at Your pace, not sitting passively through inactivity or running myself ragged by becoming too busy.
Neil T. Anderson
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2/25/2012
He Knows What We Need
By Max Lucado
“We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us.” Romans 8:26
You know, we really don’t know what to pray for, do we? What if God had answered every prayer that you ever prayed? Just think who you’d be married to. Just think where you’d be living. Just think what you’d be doing.
God loves us so much that sometimes he gives us what we need and not what we ask.
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"I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John xv. 5).
How can I take Christ as my Sanctifier, or Healer? is a question that we are constantly asked. It is necessary first of all that we get into the posture of faith. This has to be done by a definite and voluntary act, and then maintained by a uniform habit. It is just the same as the planting of a tree. You must put it in the soil by a definite act, and then you must let it stay put and remain settled in the ground until the little roots have time to fix themselves and begin to draw the sustenance from the soil. There are two stages, the definite planting and then the habitual absorbing of moisture and nourishment from the ground. The root fibers must rest until they reach out their spongy pores and drink in the nutriment of the earth. After the habit is established, then by a certain uniform law, the plant draws its life from the ground without an effort, and it is just as natural for it to grow as it is for us to breathe.
Lord, help me this day to abide in Thee, and to grow into the habit of drawing all my life from Thine so that it shall be true for me, "In Him I live and move and have my being."
A. B. Simpson
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Shut Up To Faith
"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." (Gal. 3:23).
God, in olden time suffered man to be kept in ward by the law that he might learn the more excellent way of faith. For by the law he would see God's holy standard and by the law he would see his own utter helplessness; then he would be glad to learn God's way of faith.
God still shuts us up to faith. Our natures, our circumstances, trials, disappointments, all serve to shut us up and keep us inward till we see that the only way out is God's way of faith. Moses tried by self-effort, by personal influence, even by violence, to bring about the deliverance of his people. God had to shut him up forty years in the wilderness before he was prepared for God's work.
Paul and Silas were bidden of God to preach the Gospel in Europe. They landed and proceeded to Philippi. They were flogged, they were shut up in prison, their feet were put fast in the stocks. They were shut up to faith. They trusted God. They sang praises to Him in the darkest hour, and God wrought deliverance and salvation.
John was banished to the Isle of Patmos. He was shut up to faith. Had he not been so shut up, he would never have seen such glorious visions of God.
Dear reader, are you in some great trouble? Have you had some great disappointment, have you met some sorrow, some unspeakable loss? Are you in a hard place? Cheer up! You are shut up to faith. Take your trouble the right way. Commit it to God. Praise Him that He maketh "all things work together for good," and that "God worketh for him that waiteth for him." There will be blessings, help and revelations of God that will come to you that never could otherwise have come; and many besides yourself will receive great light and blessing because you were shut up to faith.--C. H. P
"Great things are done when men and mountains meet,
These are not done by jostling in the street."
Streams in the Desert
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I am Jehovah, and I Will! Exodus 6:6
WHEN all human help has failed, and the soul, exhausted and despairing, has given up hope from man, God draws near, and says, I AM. It is as though He said, "All that can really help you resides in My nature as in its native home. I have weaned you from all beside, that you might seek in Me what you had been wont to seek in men and things and self-...help."
Thus God with Israel. The people had come to relish the dainties of Egypt - the leeks and onions, the fleshpots and sensual delights; therefore the need for this cruel bondage to wean them, and prepare them for marriage union with Himself. Moreover, they placed great hopes in Moses, and such appeals as might be made to move Pharaoh's pity; from these too it was necessary to withdraw the people's heart, that they might look for all to their heavenly Lover, and find in Jehovah their infinite supply.
Affliction is always needful in the first stage of the Christian's deepening experience. The world, with its vainglory, pride, and envy; the delights of the flesh; the praise and good opinion of our fellows - these take the place of Christ in His disciples. We must be taught to despise these things, and feel their vanity and insufficiency to satisfy.
Failure is often necessary to teach humility and patience; so that we may have no confidence in anything we can call our own, and be prepared to find all our satisfaction and delight in Jesus only.
Revelation then becomes possible, of all that God can be and do. He draws near with His sevenfold "I will." He looks on us with infinite delight, and commences to bring us into such blessedness that we forget all else, and behold our Bridegroom only.
F. B. Meyer
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From the sermon The Net Mender part 1
There are some losses that are insignificant, and only a foolish man will trouble over them. But there are other losses that are vital, and affect everything, and are determinative. So with a fisherman is a lost net, and so with every man is a lost life, which is not lived to the glory of its Maker, and has never known the joy of doing good. All other losses,... matched with that, are comparatively insignificant. The loss of health may be a bitter thing, and the loss of a fortune may be very terrible. But the one loss that cuts down to the quick, and calls for mercy in the heart of heaven is not lost health nor lost prosperity: it is lost life and opportunity. It is a mighty thing to save the soul; but we want to save the life as well as save the soul. We want to have sin conquered, and habits brought to an end, and time redeemed, and something worthy done. And it is just when we are doubtful of all that, and wondering if there be any hope for us, that the Bible comes to us, a seaborn people, and says, The God of grace will mend your nets. He will do it by His pardoning mercy, that forgives everything for Jesus' sake. He will do it by His upholding power, that will never leave us nor forsake us. He will do it perfectly, and do it now, and do it for the weakest and the worst, for the God of all grace will make you perfect.
George H. Morrison
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He will keep the feet of his saints." 1 Samuel 2:9
The Lord sees his poor scattered pilgrims travelling through a vale of tears, journeying through a waste howling wilderness, a path beset with gins, traps, and snares in every direction. How can they escape? Why, the Lord keeps their feet, carries them through every rough place, as a tender parent carries a little child; when about to fall, graciously lays the everlasting arms underneath them, and when tottering and stumbling, and their feet ready to slip, mercifully upholds them from falling altogether. Thus the Lord keeps the feet of his saints. But do you think that he has not different ways for different feet? The God of creation has not made two flowers, nor two leaves upon a tree alike; and will he cause all his people to walk in precisely the same path? No; we have each our path, each our besetment, each our trials, each peculiar traps and snares laid for our feet. And the wisdom of the all-wise and only-wise God is shewn by his eyes being in every place, marking the footsteps of every pilgrim, suiting his remedies to meet their individual case and necessity, appearing for them when nobody else could do them any good; watching so tenderly over them, as though the eyes of his affection were bent on one individual; and carefully noting the goings of each, as though all the powers of the Godhead were concentrated on that one person to keep him from harm.
J. C. Philpot
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FREED FROM LEGALISM
2 Corinthians 3:5, 6
God . . . made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life
Walking by the Spirit is not legalism, the opposite extreme from license. Paul said: "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law" (Galatians 5:18). Stringently striving to obey Christian rules and regulations doesn't enable the Spirit-filled walk; it often kills it (2 Corinthians 3:6). We're told in Galatians 3:13 that the law is really a curse, and in Galatians 3:21 that it is impotent, powerless to give life.
Laying down the law--telling someone that it is wrong to do this or that--does not give them the power to stop doing it. Christians have been notorious at trying to legislate spirituality with don'ts: Christians don't drink, don't smoke, don't dance, don't attend movies, don't play cards, don't wear makeup, etc. But legalism can't curb immorality. In fact, laying down the law merely serves to heighten the temptation. Paul said that the law actually stimulates the desire to do what it forbids (Romans 7:5)! When you tell your child not to cross a certain line, where does he immediately want to go? Forbidden fruit often seems to be the most desirable.
Neither will a Spirit-filled heart be produced by demanding that someone conform to a religious code of behavior. We often equate Christian disciplines such as Bible study, prayer, regular church attendance, and witnessing with spiritual maturity. All these activities are good and helpful for spiritual growth. But merely performing these admirable Christian exercises does not guarantee a Spirit-filled walk.
Does this mean that establishing rules is wrong? Of course not. God's law is a necessary protective moral standard and guideline. But the means by which we live a life of freedom is not the law but grace. Within the confines of God's law, we are free to nurture a spirit-to Spirit relationship with God, which is the essence of walking in the Spirit.
Prayer: Lord, help me encourage other believers to freedom in their walk with You and not impose on them a religious code of behavior.
Neil T. Anderson
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Set Apart
"Ye shall be named the priests of the LORD" (Isaiah 61:6).
This literal promise to Israel belongs spiritually to the seed after the Spirit, namely, to all believers. If we live up to our privileges, we shall live unto God so clearly and distinctly that men shall see that we are set apart for holy service and shall name us the priests of the LORD. We may work or trade as others do, a...nd yet we may be solely and wholly the ministering servants of God. Our one occupation shall be to present the perpetual sacrifice of prayer, and praise, and testimony, and self-consecration to the living God by Jesus Christ.
This being our one aim, we may leave distracting concerns to those who have no higher calling. "Let the dead bury their dead." It is written, "Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers," They may manage politics, puzzle out financial problems, discuss science, and settle the last new quibbles of criticism; but we will give ourselves unto such service as becomes those who, like the LORD Jesus, are ordained to a perpetual priesthood.
Accepting this honorable promise as involving a sacred duty, let us put on the vestments of holiness and minister before the LORD all day long.
Charles Spurgeon
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2/24/2012
What’s Your Problem?
By Max Lucado
If your father were Bill Gates and your computer crashed, where would you turn? If Stradivari were your dad and your violin string snapped, to whom would you go?
If your father is God and you have a problem on your hands, what do you do?
Is your problem too large? Ephesians 3:29 says, “God is able to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
Is your need too great? 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance.”
Is your enemy too strong? Philippians 3:21 says, “God is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”
God is able to do what you cannot. When you have a problem—make this your first thought—“How can I get this problem to Jesus!”
It’s a day changer. Choose to make every day a great day!
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"Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. vi. 14).
The secret of Moses' failures was this: "The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." And this was why his life work also came short of full realization. He saw but entered not the Promised Land. The founder of the law had to be its victim, and his life and... death might demonstrate the inability of the law to lead any man into the Promised Land. The very fact, that it was for so slight a fault that Moses lost his inheritance, makes all the more emphatic the solemn sentence of the law. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them."
But to the glory of the grace of God we can add that what the law could not do for Moses the Gospel did; and he who could not pass over the Jordan under the old dispensation is seen on the very heights of Hermon with the Son of Man, sharing His Transfiguration glory, and talking of that death on Calvary to which be owed his glorious destiny.
That grace we have inherited under the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A. B. Simpson
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Grow in the Gloom
"I have all, and abound" (Phil. 4:18).
In one of my garden books there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, "Flowers that Grow in the Gloom." It deals with those patches in a garden which never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowers which are not afraid of these dingy corners--may rather like them and flourish in them.
And there are similar things in the world of the spirit. They come out when material circumstances become stern and severe. They grow in the gloom. How can we otherwise explain some of the experiences of the Apostle Paul ?
Here he is in captivity at Rome. The supreme mission of his life appears to be broken. But it is just in this besetting dinginess that flowers begin to show their faces in bright and fascinating glory. He may have seen them before, growing in the open road, but never as they now appeared in incomparable strength and beauty. Words of promise opened out their treasures as he had never seen them before.
Among those treasures were such wonderful things as the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the joy and peace of Christ; and it seemed as though they needed an "encircling gloom" to draw out their secret and their inner glory. At any rate the realm of gloom became the home of revelation, and Paul began to realize as never before the range and wealth of his spiritual inheritance. Who has not known men and women who, when they arrive at seasons of gloom and solitude, put on strength and hopefulness like a robe? You may imprison such folk where you please; but you shut up their treasure with them. You cannot shut it out. You may make their material lot a desert, but "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."--Dr. Jowett
"Every flower, even the fairest, has its shadow beneath it as it swings in the sunlight."
Where there is much light there is much shade.
Streams in the Desert
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Why is it that Thou hast sent me? Exodus 5:22
BEFORE God can use us, He must bring us to an end of ourselves. When Paul was summoned to the greatest epistles and labors of his life, his strength was drained to utter weakness, and he despaired even of life. So in the case of Moses and Israel.
Moses, for forty years, had been undergoing the emptying process; but perhaps whe...n God called him to this great enterprise, there may have been a slight revival of confidence in himself, in his mission, his miracles, the eloquence of Aaron's speech. So in the rebuff he received from Pharaoh, in the bitter remonstrances of the elders of his people, in the sad consciousness that his efforts had aggravated their condition, the lesson was still further taught him - that of himself he could do absolutely nothing.
Israel also had begun to hope something from his mission. Through the brickfields the story ran of his early years, his uncompromising speech to Pharaoh, of his miracles; and the wretched slaves cherished faith in him and Aaron as their heaven-sent deliverers. They had, however, to learn that all such hopes were vain, and to see that the brothers, at the best, were as weak as themselves. Then the way was prepared to lean only on God.
Ourselves. - By repeated failures all along our life-course God is teaching us the same lesson. We fail to justify and then to sanctify ourselves. Our efforts to serve and please Him only end in increasing perplexity. The tale of bricks is doubled; the burdens augment; the strength of our purpose is broken; we are utterly discouraged; and then, when the soul is utterly desolate, the heavenly Bridegroom draws near and says, "I will do all; I am Alpha and Omega; I am thy salvation."
F. B. Meyer
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Christ's Temptation--How and When?
Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil--Mat 4:1
Jesus, as a Man, Was Tempted in Order to Show That No One Can Escape Temptation
If our blessed Savior had to be the very Son of Man, it was, of course, inevitable that He should be tempted, because that is the one experience nobody ever escapes; it is the touch of nature--one of the touches of nature--that makes us all akin. A man may escape great calamity, a man may escape overpowering illness, a man may escape the perils of being very poor and the perils of being very rich; but there is one thing that nobody escapes, from the king on his throne to the beggar on the highway, that is, the experience of being tempted. And therefore, if our Lord was to be the perfect Son of Man, it was quite inevitable He should be tempted. The man who is never tempted has either sunk to the level of the beast, or risen to the level of angels. Is there anybody who is never tempted, just because evil has already gotten complete control of him--anybody who can do things with unconcern that twenty years ago would have made him halt a moment? I don't think there is any prayer for such a man except just, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
Every hour the Lord was tempted, and every hour He put it from Him, until at last His sinlessness was final, and He cried, "It is finished." And if you regard that as the sinlessness of Jesus, wrought out every moment, every moment tempted, every moment obedient to God until the end, you begin to see He was tempted just as you and I are.
But the point is that the Lord says, "Get thee behind me, Satan." The singular thing is this, that when the Lord took the long, slow, bloody way, there came into His heart a joy and peace that the world could never give, and has never taken away. And there is coming to Him a triumph ten thousand times greater than if He accepted the advice of Satan:
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run.
George H. Morrison
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"As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing." 2 Corinthians 6:10
Though the Christian in himself is sorrowful, and has reason to be so all the day long, yet so far as he has any views by faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, any good hope through grace, or any manifestation of his Person, work, blood, and love, he may be always rejoicing. Nay, his very sorrow opens up a way for joy. There is no room in a worldly heart for spiritual joy, for the Lord gives joy in sorrow. When the heart is sunk in gloom and fear, and doubt and distress take possession of the mind, when family afflictions, or painful bereavements, or trying circumstances fill the heart with grief and dismay, that is the very time for the Lord to pour joy into the soul. As afflictions abound, so do consolations. Sorrow and joy are linked together as night and day, as sun and moon, as heaven and earth. Without sorrow there can be no joy, for joy is its counterpoise. If you had everything your heart could desire, what room would there be for spiritual joy? But when all sources of earthly joy dry up, and there is nothing but sorrow and trouble before you in this world, as long as life remains; when you are afflicted in body, poor in circumstances, tried in your family, distressed in your mind, and there is nothing but grief and misery,--then you have room made in your heart to receive the sweet consolations of God's grace.
J. C. Philpot
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FREE TO LIVE
Galatians 5:18
If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law
Paul said that walking according to the Spirit is not license: an excessive or undisciplined freedom constituting an abuse of privilege. As a Christian you may see the phrase "You are not under the Law" in Galatians 5:18 and exclaim, "Wow, I'm free! Walking in the Spirit means I can do anything I want!" Not at all. In the previous verse Paul wrote, "You may not do the things that you please." Being led by the Spirit doesn't mean you are free to do anything you want to do. It means you are finally free to live a responsible, moral life--something you were incapable of doing when you were the prisoner of your flesh.
Once I was invited to speak to a religion class at a Catholic high school on the topic of Protestant Christianity. At the end of my talk, an athletic-looking, street-wise student raised his hand and asked, "Do you have a lot of don'ts in your church?"
Sensing that he had a deeper motive, I answered, "What you really want to ask me is if we have any freedom, right?" He nodded.
"Sure, I'm free to do whatever I want to do," I answered. "I'm free to rob a bank. But I'm mature enough to realize that I would be in bondage to that act for the rest of my life. I'd have to cover up my crime, go into hiding, or eventually pay for what I did. I'm also free to tell a lie. But if I do, I have to keep telling it, and I have to remember who I told it to and how I told it or I will get caught. I'm free to do drugs, abuse alcohol, and live a sexually immoral lifestyle. All of those 'freedoms' lead to bondage. I'm free to make those choices, but considering the consequences, would I really be free?"
What appears to be freedom to some people isn't really freedom, but a return to bondage (Galatians 5:1). God's laws, from which we seek to be free, are not restrictive, but protective. Your real freedom is your ability to choose to live responsibly within the context of the protective guidelines God has established for our lives.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the privilege I have to choose to live in freedom. Help me not to abuse that privilege today and find myself in bondage.
Neil T. Anderson
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Hear So as to Be Heard
"If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7).
Note well that we must hear Jesus speak if we expect Him to hear us speak. If we have no ear for Christ, He will have no ear for us. In proportion as we hear we shall be heard.
...
Moreover, what is heard must remain, must live in us, and must abide in our character as a force and a power. We must receive the truths which Jesus taught, the precepts which He issued, and the movements of His Spirit within us; or we shall have no power at the Mercy Seat.
Suppose our LORD's words to be received and to abide in us, what a boundless field of privilege is opened up to us! We are to have our will in prayer, because we have already surrendered our will to the LORD's command. Thus are Elijahs trained to handle the keys of heaven and lock or loose the clouds. One such man is worth a thousand common Christians. Do we humbly desire to be intercessors for the church and the world, and like Luther to be able to have what we will of the LORD? Then we must bow our ear to the voice of the Well-beloved, treasure up His words, and carefully obey them. He has need to "hearken diligently" who would pray effectually.
Charles Spurgeon
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2/23/2012
Running Out of Gas
By Max Lucado
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13”
If you ever see a man walking on the side of the road carrying an empty gas can—give him some respect. He’s dying inside! Women see the empty gas tank as an inconvenience. Men see it as the ultimate failure. Our first set of keys was handed to us with these words: “Make sure you buy some gas.”
Back in the day when I took my girls to school, I looked down to see the gas needle resting on—empty!
I stared at the gauge, hoping it would move. Didn’t work. Denying the problem was my next approach. The car didn’t budge.
You’re going to run out of gas—we all do. Remember the God who’s able to keep you from falling, to help you when tested, and to bring you into great joy in His glorious presence!
Make it a day changer!
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"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. i. 21).
The secret of a sound body is a sound heart, and the prayer of the Holy Ghost for us is, that we "may be in health and prosper even as our soul prospers."
We find Paul in the Epistles to the Philippians expressing a sublime and holy indifference to the question of life or death. Indeed he is in a real strait, whether he would prefer "to depart and be with Christ," or to remain still in the flesh.
The former would indeed be his sweetest preference, but the latter would be at the same time a joyful service. His only object in wanting to live is to be a blessing. "To abide in the flesh is more needful to you."
Having reached this state of heart, it is beautiful to notice how quickly he rises to the victorious faith necessary to claim perfect strength and health. Because it is more needful to you that I abide in the flesh, he adds, "I know that I shall continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith." Lord, help me to-day to "count not my life dear unto myself that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry that I have received of Jesus."
A. B. Simpson
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No Solution in Sight
"He went out, not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:9).
It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a gr...eat chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.
How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights.
So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.--Days of Heaven upon Earth
"Too many of us want to see our way through before starting new enterprises. If we could and did, from whence would come the development of our Christian graces? Faith, hope and love cannot be plucked from trees, like ripe apples. After the words 'In the beginning' comes the word 'God'! The first step turns the key into God's power-house, and it is not only true that God helps those who help themselves, but He also helps those who cannot help themselves. You can depend upon Him every time."
"Waiting on God brings us to our journey's end quicker than our feet."
The opportunity is often lost by deliberation.
Streams in the Desert
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I am not Eloquent. Exodus 4:10
THIS is what we all say. We think more of the words than of the message; more of our eloquence or slowness of speech than of the King's seal and signature. Moses had learned many wholesome lessons through his long sojourn in Midian; but he had to learn this last one, that God does not want excellency of speech or of language in His messengers, but the un...ction and power which come on those who speak after direct audience with the Eternal. Aaron, who came to meet Moses, could speak well; but he was a weak man, whose alliance with Moses caused his nobler younger brother much anxiety and pain. However, God determined to send Aaron with him, to be his colleague and spokesman. Better a thousand times had it been for Moses to trust God for speech, than be thus deposed of his premiership.
Be sure to get thy message from the King. - Wait before Him in the inner shrine, till He says the word which thou shalt speak. This will give thee the real eloquence of the heart.
Look up for the right words. - The Apostle said that the Corinthians were enriched in all utterance; and he said that he spoke the Divine mysteries in words which the Holy Spirit taught. Ask for these, and you will not be disappointed.
Rely on the Divine cooperation. - There is another force at work, more subtle and penetrating than the most eloquent words of man - the power of the Holy Ghost. Seek for His Divine demonstration and co-witness. And it shall come to pass, that mysterious influences shall move over the hearts of those that listen to thy words, which shall attest the mighty fellowship and cooperation of One whom the natural man cannot detect.
F. B. Meyer
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The Temptation of Jesus
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil--Mat 4:1
Christ's Temptation: It Was Real
Whatever view we take of the temptation--whether it was an inward struggle or an actual scene--the one thing to remember is its intense reality. Prayerfully and reverently we must strive to realize that the temptations of Jesus were unutterably severe! It is not difficult to realize Christ's brotherhood in suffering. It is very difficult to do so in temptation. And one great reason of that is, that in our temptations, we are so conscious of sinful impulses within. But when we remember that our temptations sometimes touch not what is worst, but what is noblest in us; when we think that without the sorest and fiercest trial, the thought of sinlessness has little meaning, then we dimly perceive how intense temptation might be to a spotless and holy Savior. There is nothing more heavenly than a mother's love, yet sometimes a mother is tempted most severely just because she loves her children so. If men were always tempted at their weakest, we could hardly understand a tempted Jesus. If our temptations only lit where we were worst, Christ (who had no worst) could not have been tempted. But when we see (and time and again we see it) that the sorest onset may be on the saintliest side, then we know that the temptations of Jesus may have been unutterably sore, since Jesus was unutterably good.
We are tempted along the line of our desires, and our Lord was tempted in all points like as we are. He had been dreaming, in the days at Nazareth, of a worldwide and universal reign. And now the devil comes and whispers to Him, "Renounce God and ally yourself with me, and I shall give you the longing of your heart." What a magnificent temptation, tribute to a magnificent Redeemer. What a fierce temptation, when we bear in mind that these kingdoms were the yearning of His being. But our Lord in an instant recognized the treachery, and recoiled from it in an infinite abhorrence, and emerged triumphant because true to God, He took the long, long road which is the road of heaven--the road that was wet with sorrows and with tears--the road that led, through loving human service, to the crown of thorns and to the pierced hands. My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me. I come to do Thy will, O God. Supremely true to His brethren and Himself, here He is supremely true to God.
George H. Morrison
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"He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." 2 Samuel 23:5
O the blessedness of having a manifest interest in the blood of the covenant, and thus to have a testimony that God has made a covenant with his dear Son upon our behalf; that our names are written in the book of life; and that Christ is our Mediator at the right hand of the Father! What are all earthly blessings compared with this? What are health and strength and riches and all the goods of this life; what is everything that the carnal heart can desire or the covetous mind grasp; what is all compared with an interest in the everlasting covenant, and in the love and blood and righteousness of the Lord the Lamb? What is earth, with all its attractions, compared with an interest in the precious, precious blood of a dying Jesus? You will find it so when you come to lie upon a bed of languishing and pain; when the cold drops of sweat stand upon your forehead, and the last enemy is about to grasp you by the throat. What will your anxious strivings to have something and be something more than you have or are,--aye, I may add, your successes,--what will they do for you then? Only be so many ghastly spectres of the past to terrify and alarm your conscience, to see what shadows you have been seeking to grasp to the neglect of solid substance. But in that solemn hour to have a testimony from God of pardon and peace, will make smooth a dying bed, will calm all anxious fears, and will take you safe through the dark valley of the shadow of death.
J. C. Philpot
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RELATIONSHIP, NOT REGIMEN
Romans 8:2
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death
Walking according to the Spirit is more a relationship than a regimen. Think about your marriage as an illustration. You may have started out relying on some rules for effective communication, meeting each other's sexual needs, etc. But if after several years you can't even talk to each other or make love without following an outline or list of steps, your marriage is still in infancy. The goal of a marriage is to develop a relationship which supersedes rules.
Or think about prayer. Perhaps you learned to pray using the simple acrostic ACTS: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. But if you have been a Christian for a few years and your prayer life is no deeper than an acrostic, you've missed the point of prayer. Prayer is not a formula; it's the language of your relationship with God. Similarly, walking in the Spirit is essentially a relationship with the indwelling Spirit which defies quantification.
Even though Scripture doesn't give us a formula, it does help us see what the Spirit-filled walk is and what it is not . Helpful parameters are found in Galatians 5:16-18: "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law."
So how do you walk by the Spirit? If I answered by giving you a rigid formula, I would be putting you back under the law. The Spirit is not an "it"; the Holy Spirit is a "He"--a person. Walking by the Spirit is a relationship issue, not a legal issue or ritualistic exercise. It is a walk with God.
Over the next several days we will examine what the Spirit-walk is and what it is not.
Prayer: Father, thank You that my life in You is a relationship, not a set of rules.
Neil T. Anderson
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Simple, Believing Prayer
by Joyce Meyer
And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking.
—Matthew 6:7
We must develop confidence in simple, believing prayer. We need the confidence that even if we simply say, “God, help me,” He hears and will answer. We can depend on God to be faithful to do what we have asked Him to do, as long as our request is in accordance with His will. Too often we get caught up in our own works concerning prayer.
Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that prayer is simply conversation with God. The length or volume or eloquence of our prayer is not the issue; it is the sincerity of our heart and the confidence we have that God hears and will answer us that are important. Sometimes we try to sound so devout and elegant that we get lost. If we could ever get delivered from trying to impress God, we would be a lot better off.
First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]” or as the King James Version puts it, “Pray without ceasing.” If we don’t understand simple, believing prayer, that instruction can come down upon us like a very heavy burden. We may feel that we are doing well to pray thirty minutes a day, so how can we possibly pray without ever stopping? We need to have such confidence about our prayer life that prayer becomes just like breathing, an effortless thing that we do every moment we are alive.
We don’t work and struggle at breathing, unless we have a lung disorder, and neither should we work and struggle at praying. I don’t believe we will struggle in this area if we really understand the power of simple, believing prayer. We should remember that prayer is made powerful by the sincerity of it and the faith behind it.
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2/22/2012
At Just the Right Time
By Max Lucado
“Go confidently to the throne of God’s kindness to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time! Hebrews 4:16”
Some of my friends were conducting a children’s seminar in a local church in Brazil—just a few minutes from a tall bridge famous for suicide attempts. My friends were walking past at the very moment a woman was about to jump. With some effort they were able to talk her back from the ledge and save her life.
Remarkably, their walk across the bridge wasn’t in their original plan. The person who was to pick them up after lunch was late and they decided to walk back. Their driver was late, but God was
right on time!
Isn’t He always? God sends help at the hour we need it—daily and miraculously!
Trust Him. Make it a day changer!
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"He that hath entered into His rest hath ceased from his own works even as God did from His" (Heb. iv. 10).
What a rest it would be to many of us if we could but exchange burdens with Christ, and so utterly and forever transfer to Him all our cares and needs that we would not feel henceforth responsible for our burdens, but know that He has undertaken all the care, and that our faith... is simply to carry His burdens, and that He prays, labors, and suffers only for us and our interests. This is what He truly invites us to do. "Come unto Me," He says, "all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will rest you," and then He adds, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." He takes our yoke and we take His and we find it a thousand times easier to carry one of His burdens than to carry our own. How much more delightful it is to spend an hour in supplication for another than five minutes in pleading for ourselves. Are we not weary of carrying our wretched loads?
'Twas for this His mercy sought you,
And to all His fulness brought you,
By the precious blood that bought you,
Pass it on.
A. B. Simpson
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No Miracles
"And the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land" (Acts 27:44).
The marvelous story of Paul's voyage to Rome, with its trials and triumphs, is a fine pattern of the lights and shades of the way of faith all through the story of human life. The remarkable feature of it is the hard and na...rrow places which we find intermingled with God's most extraordinary interpositions and providences.
It is the common idea that the pathway of faith is strewn with flowers, and that when God interposes in the life of His people, He does it on a scale so grand that He lifts us quite out of the plane of difficulties. The actual fact, however, is that the real experience is quite contrary. The story of the Bible is one of alternate trial and triumph in the case of everyone of the cloud of witnesses from Abel down to the latest martyr.
Paul, more than anyone else, was an example of how much a child of God can suffer without being crushed or broken in spirit. On account of his testifying in Damascus, he was hunted down by persecutors and obliged to fly for his life. but we behold no heavenly chariot transporting the holy apostle amid thunderbolts of flame from the reach of his foes, but "through a window in a basket," was he let down over the walls of Damascus and so escaped their hands. In an old clothes basket, like a bundle of laundry, or groceries, the servant of Jesus Christ was dropped from the window and ignominiously fled from the hate of his foes.
Again we find him left for months in the lonely dungeons; we find him telling of his watchings, his fastings, and his desertion by friends, of his brutal and shameful beatings, and here even after God has promised to deliver him, we see him for days left to toss upon a stormy sea, obliged to stand guard over the treacherous seaman, and at last when the deliverance comes, there is no heavenly galley sailing from the skies to take off the noble prisoner; there is no angel form walking along the waters and stilling the raging breakers; there is no supernatural sign of the transcendent miracle that is being wrought; but one is compelled to seize a spar, another a floating plank, another to climb on a fragment of the wreck, another to strike out and swim for his life.
Here is God's pattern for our own lives. Here is a Gospel of help for people that have to live in this every day world with real and ordinary surroundings, and a thousand practical conditions which have to be met in a thoroughly practical way.
God's promises and God's providences do not lift us out of the plane of common sense and commonplace trial, but it is through these very things that faith is perfected, and that God loves to interweave the golden threads of His love along the warp and woof of our every day experience.--Hard Places in the Way of Faith
Streams in the Desert
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I am come down. Exodus 3:8
THIS is a marvellous chapter, because it is so full of God. If the previous one, in its story of human striving, reminds us of Rom. 7., this as surely recalls Rom. 8. There is little mention of the part that Moses was to play, but much is said of what God was about to do. "I am come down." "I will bring you up." "I will put forth Mine hand." O weary soul, bi...tter with weary bondage, groaning beneath cruel taskmasters, afflicted and tossed with tempest, the I AM has come down!
God comes down to our lowest to lift us to His highest. - This is the theme of the Magnificat, and of Hannah's song. God comes down to the dust for the poor, and to the dunghill for the needy. You cannot be too lonely or broken in spirit for Him to notice and help. In proportion to your humiliation will be your exaltation.
He comes down to our saddest to lift us to His joyfullest. - How great the contrast between the cry of the Hebrews, because of their taskmasters, and the exultant note that smote on the rocks of the Red Sea! Such shall be your experience also. If you suffer in the line of God's will and providence, you are sowing the seeds of light and gladness. Oh, anticipate the harvest!
He comes dawn go our helplessness to succor with His great might. - Israel could not help herself; but the resources of I AM were sufficient for every need, and they will be for yours and mine. This is God's blank check; fill it in! Insert after these majestic words, wisdom, or courage, or love, or whatever you need most. And He will be all this, and more also: not for a moment, but always; not spasmodically, but unchangeably.
F. B. Meyer
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2/21/2012
Look Up
By Max Lucado
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2”
The Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. On the sixth day they’ll gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”
God meets daily needs daily!
You look at tomorrow’s demands, next week’s bills, next month’s calendar. Your future looks as barren as the Sinai Desert. “How can I face my future?” you ask.
God tells you to look up!
Trust Him. Make it your day changer. Give your attention to what God is doing right now. Don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. Mark 7:37 says, “God has done it all and done it well.”
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Dancing With God
When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i". "God, "u" and "i" dance."
God, you, and I dance.
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
My prayer for you today is that God's blessings and mercies are upon you on this day and everyday.
May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.
If God has done anything for you in your life, please share this message with someone else.
There is no cost but a lot of rewards; so, let's continue to pray for one another.
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"Be not dismayed, for I am thy God" (Isa. xli. 10).
How tenderly God is always comforting our fears! How sweetly He says in Isaiah xli. 10, "Fear not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." And yet again with still tenderer thoughtfulness, "I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fea...r not, I will help thee." Not only does He say it once, but He keeps holding our right hand and repeating such promises.
The blessed Lord has condensed it all into one sweet monogram of eternal comfort in His message to the disciples on the sea of Galilee, "It is I; be not afraid." He does not say, "It is over," or "It is morning," or "It is fine weather," or "It is smooth water," but He says, "It is I, be not afraid." He is the antidote to fear; He is the remedy for trouble; He is the substance and the sum of deliverance. Therefore, we should rise above fear. Let us keep our eyes fastened upon Him; let us abide continually in Him; let us be content with Him; let us cling closely to Him and cry, "We will not fear though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."
A. B. Simpson
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Himself
"He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me; because he delighted in me" (Ps. 18:19).
And what is this "large place"? What can it be but God Himself, that infinite Being in whom all other beings and all other streams of life terminate? God is a large place indeed. And it was through humiliation, through abasement, through nothingness that David w...as brought into it.--Madame Guyon
"I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exod. 19:4).
Fearing to launch on "full surrender's" tide,
I asked the Lord where would its waters glide
My little bark, "To troubled seas I dread?"
"Unto Myself," He said.
Weeping beside an open grave I stood,
In bitterness of soul I cried to God:
"Where leads this path of sorrow that I tread?"
"Unto Myself," He said.
Striving for souls, I loved the work too well;
Then disappointments came; I could not tell
The reason, till He said, "I am thine all;
Unto Myself I call."
Watching my heroes--those I loved the best--
I saw them fail; they could not stand the test,
Even by this the Lord, through tears not few,
Unto Himself me drew.
Unto Himself! No earthly tongue can tell
The bliss I find, since in His heart I dwell;
The things that charmed me once seem all asnaught;
Unto Himself I'm brought.
--selected
Streams in the Desert
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He Knocks
Behold I stand at the door, and knock--Rev 3:20
We are all familiar with the picture by a well-known artist which portrays Christ standing at the door. It is one of the few pictures on a text of Scripture which has caught the imagination of the people. We see the door hanging on rusty hinges and covered with the trailing growth of years. And we see Christ, clad ...in His kingly robes, out in the dew and darkness of the night. And in the one hand He bears a lighted lamp whose rays are penetrating through the chinks and crevices, and with the other He is knocking at the door. You know the title the artist gave that picture. He did not call it "Christ knocking at the door." He called it--and there is spiritual genius in the title--"I am the light of the world." For him the wonder of it all was that the light which is life and blessedness and victory should be so near the door of every heart.
And after all, when you come to think of it, that is the most wonderful thing about this text. It is not the knocking at the closed door; it is the overwhelming thought of Him who knocks. Were it some emperor whose word is law to millions, it would be sufficiently awful and impressive. Were it some angel as he who came to Abraham, it would be a very memorable visitor. But when a man goes apart into some silent place and dwells upon the fact that knocking at his heart is CHRIST, I tell you it thrills him to the very depths. Not Jesus, who walked amid the fields of Galilee. He is no longer walking amid the fields of Galilee. He is no longer rejected and despised, homeless, with no shelter for His head. He is the risen Christ, exalted to the heavens, invested with all the authority of glory and yet, behold He stands at the door and knocks. At the door of your heart, my brother and my sister. You know what passions and what sins are knocking there, clamorous rabble--Christ is standing, the living, glorious Christ, and in infinite mercy He is knocking too.
George H. Morrison
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"Who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20
Many of the saints of God may not be so highly favoured as to take up into their lips Paul's language of strong, personal assurance. They may hope, and at times may rise beyond a hope, into a sweet confidence, by the shining in of the Sun of righteousness, that the Son of God has loved them, and given himself for them. But the s...trength of Paul's persuasion and the full expression of his confidence so far outstrip both their assurance and their language, that many real saints of God confess they come short both in heart and tongue. Yet their coming short of this blessed certainty as an enjoyed reality in the heart, and as a declared confidence by the mouth--for conscience and tongue must move together where God works--does not affect the fact. Clouds and mists sometimes obscure the sun, but they do not blot him out of the sky. So the mists and fogs of unbelief may obscure the Sun of righteousness, yet they do not blot him out of the spiritual hemisphere. He still loved you and gave himself for you who believe in his name, though you may not be able to rise up to the faith of Paul, or speak with the same fulness of assurance. The bud has the same union with the vine as the branch, but not the same strength of union; the babe is as much a member of the family as the grown-up son, but has not the same knowledge of its relationship; the foot is as much a part of the body as the eye or the hand, though it has not the same nearness to the head, or the same honours and employments.
J. C. Philpot
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BE GOD-CENTERED
Luke 9:1, 2
He [Jesus] called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to perform healing
Notice how Jesus equipped His disciples for ministry. He knew that when they began preaching the kingdom of God and healing the sick, demonic powers would bring opposition. So He specifically gave them power and authority over demons.
Later Jesus sent out 70 of His followers on a similar mission, and they "returned with joy, saying 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name'"(Luke 10:17). These missionaries were spiritually in tune enough to know that demons existed and that they were a force to be reckoned with in their ministry. Jesus' followers had been eyewitnesses as the evil spirits opposed the Master, and they probably anticipated the same treatment. Perhaps they even started out on their mission with pangs of fear and doubt about encountering demonic resistance. But they came back astonished at the victory they experienced over evil spirits.
But Jesus quickly brought the issue of spiritual conflicts into perspective: "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Jesus sent out the 70 to preach the gospel and to heal, but all they could talk about when they came back was how they sent the demons running. "Don't be demon-centered," Jesus replied. "Be kingdom-centered, be ministry-centered, be God-centered."
That's a good warning. As you learn to exercise authority over the kingdom of darkness in your life and in the lives of others, you may be tempted to see yourself as some kind of spiritual freedom fighter, looking for demons behind every door. But it's truth which sets you free, not the knowledge of error. You are not called to dispel the darkness; you are called to turn on the light. You would have no authority at all if it weren't for your identity as a child of God and your position in Christ.
Prayer: Lord, Your light is strong enough to overcome the deepest darkness. Praise You!
Neil T. Anderson
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Blessing on Littleness
"He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great" (Psalm 115:13).
This is a word of cheer to those who are of humble station and mean estate. Our God has a very gracious consideration for those of small property, small talent, small influence, small weight. God careth for the small things in creation and even regards sparrows in their lighting upon the ground. Nothing is small to God, for He makes use of insignificant agents for the accomplishment of His purposes. Let the least among men seek of God a blessing upon his littleness, and he shall find his contracted sphere to be a happy one.
Among those who fear the LORD there are little and great. Some are babes, and others are giants. But these are all blessed. Little faith is blessed faith. Trembling hope is blessed hope. Every grace of the Holy Spirit, even though it be only in the bud, bears a blessing within it. Moreover, the LORD Jesus bought both the small and the great with the same precious blood, and He has engaged to preserve the lambs as well as the full-grown sheep. No mother overlooks her child because it is little; nay, the smaller it is, the more tenderly does she nurse it. If there be any preference with the LORD, He does not arrange them as "great and small" but as "small and great."
Charles Spurgeon
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An Attitude of Gratitude
by Joyce Meyer
Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice! Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit) . . . Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. —Philippians 4:4-6
We all need to develop an “attitude of gratitude.” This doesn’t mean we should live pretending nothing negative exists. It simply means we make it our goal in life to be as positive as possible. A positive approach opens the door for God to work.
Go to bed tonight pondering everything you have to be thankful for. Do the same first thing tomorrow morning. Thank God for everything—a convenient parking place; the fact you can walk, see, or hear; your children. Don’t become discouraged with yourself when you fall short, and don’t quit.
Keep at it until you have developed new habits.
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2/20/2012
Worry Changes Nothing
By Max Lucado
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:26-27
Let’s make a list—“The Advantages of Anxiety”
Let’s start our list with worry helps our health. Lose sleep and live longer. A nervous stomach is a happy stomach, isn’t it?
We can even plan days of worry.
Monday—stress over the economy
Tuesday—list the reasons we could be unemployed by year end.
Let’s face it! Worry has no advantages. It ruins health, robs joy, and changes nothing! Our days stand no chance against the terrorists of the “Land of Anxiety.” But Christ offers a worry-bazooka.
Remember how he taught us to pray? “Give us this day our daily bread.” Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength. Live one day at a time. Make it a day changer! God’s Word says: “He will take care of everything you need!”
Choose to make every day a great day!
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"Fear thou not, for I am with thee" (Isa. xli. 10).
Satan is always trying to weaken our faith by fear. He is a great metaphysician and knows the paralyzing effect of fear, that it is the great enemy of faith, and that faith is the great secret of help. If he can get us fearing he will stop our trusting and hinder the very blessing we need. Job found the peril of fear and gives us the sorrowful testimony, "I feared a fear and it came upon me."
Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only take time to think a moment we would see that everything Satan says is founded upon a falsehood. He is the father of lies. Even his fears are falsehoods and his terrors ought rather be to us encouragements.
When Satan tells you, therefore, that some ill is going to come, you may quietly look in his face and tell him he is a liar, that instead of ill, goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and then turn to your blessed Lord and say, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." Every fear is distrust and trust is the remedy for fear. "What time I am afraid I will trust in thee."
A. B. Simpson
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Wrestling With God
"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (Gen. 32:24).
God is wrestling with Jacob more than Jacob is wrestling with God. It was the Son of man, the Angel of the Covenant. It was God in human form pressing down and pressing out the old Jacob life; and ere the morning broke, God had prevailed and Jacob fell with his thigh dislocated. But as he fell, he fell into the arms of God, and there he clung and wrestled, too, until the blessing came; and the new life was born and he arose from the earthly to the heavenly, the human to the divine, the natural to the supernatural. And as he went forth that morning he was a weak and broken man, but God was there instead; and the heavenly voice proclaimed, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Beloved, this must ever be a typical scene in every transformed life. There comes a crisis-hour to each of us, if God has called us to the highest and best, when all resources fail; when we face either ruin or something higher than we ever dreamed; when we must have infinite help from God and yet, ere we can have it, we must let something go; we must surrender completely; we must cease from our own wisdom. strength, and righteousness, and become crucified with Christ and alive in Him. God knows how to lead us up to this crisis, and He knows how to lead us through.
Is He leading you thus? Is this the meaning of your deep trial, or your difficult surroundings, or that impossible situation. or that trying place through which you cannot go without Him, and yet you have not enough of Him to give you the victory?
Oh, turn to Jacob's God! Cast yourself helplessly at His feet. Die to your strength and wisdom in His loving arms and rise, like Jacob, into His strength and all-sufficiency. There is no way out of your hard and narrow place but at the top. You must get deliverance by rising higher and coming into a new experience with God. Oh, may it bring you into all that is meant by the revelation of the Mighty One of Jacob!--But God
"At Thy feet I fall,
Yield Thee Up My ALL,
To suffer LIVE, OR DIE
For my Lord crucified."
Streams in the Desert
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It is rarely the case that we make much spiritual headway when winds and currents favor us. We do best when all is against us. We grow quickest in the dark. In times of persecution we realize the security, and comfort, and joy, which are in Christ Jesus our Lord; and as God goes the round of the world, it is in chambers of pain, sickness, and bereavement, that He beholds the multiplication of the choice graces of holy character and temper. The affliction, which is for the moment, is working out an exceeding weight of glory.
F. B. Meyer
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"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63
It is through the word that the soul in the first instance is cleansed. It is by the word that the soul is begotten again unto eternal life. It is, too, by the word applied to the heart that the blessed Spirit from time to time keeps alive communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it not so in vital experience? Some passage of Scripture drops into the soul, some promise comes warm into the heart, and as it comes it makes way for itself. It enters the heart, breaks down the feelings, melts the soul, and draws forth living faith to flow unto and centre alone in the "altogether lovely." There are many times and seasons when the word of God is to us a dead letter; we see and feel no sweetness in it. But there are other times, through mercy, when the word of God is made sweet and precious to us; when we can say, with the prophet of old, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart" (Jer. 15:16). It was so in the case of David. He says, they are "more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:10). When this is felt, the sure effect is to bring the soul into communion with the Lord Jesus, who is the true word of God, and makes use of the written word to draw us near unto himself.
J. C. Philpot
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HE'S ALWAYS THERE
Matthew 28:20
I am with you always, even to the end of the age
In the early 1980s I counseled a Christian young woman who was languishing in deep spiritual, mental and emotional torment. She wrote:
Dear God,
Where are You? How can You watch and not help me? I hurt so bad, and You don't even care. If You cared You'd make it stop or let me die. I love You, but You seem so far away. I can't hear You or feel You or see You, but I'm supposed to believe You're here. Lord, I feel them and hear them. They are here. I know You're real, God, but they are more real to me right now. Please make someone believe me, Lord. Why won't You make it stop? Please, Lord, please! If You love me You'll let me die.
A Lost Sheep
Many Christians I deal with are filled with such confusion that their daily walk with Christ is unfulfilling and unproductive. When they try to pray, they begin thinking about a million things they should be doing. When they sit down to read the Bible, they can't concentrate. When they have an opportunity to serve the Lord in some way, they are brought up short by discouraging thoughts of self-doubt.
Having found freedom, "The Lord Sheep" penned a response to her own prayer based on her new understanding of God's provision in Christ.
My Dear Lost Sheep,
You ask Me where I am. My child, I am with you and I always will be. You are weak, but in Me you are strong. I am so close that I feel everything you feel. Be crucified with Me and I will live in you, and you shall live with Me. I will direct you in paths of righteousness. My child, I love you and I will never forsake you, for you are truly Mine.
Love, God
Prayer: Loving Shepherd, thank You for tending me and feeding me daily, showing me that I am precious to You.
Neil T. Anderson
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Continual Guidance
"The LORD shall guide thee continually" (Isaiah 5 8:11).
What aileth thee? Hast thou lost thy way? Art thou entangled in a dark wood and canst thou not find thy paths? Stand still, and see the salvation of God. He knows the way, and He will direct thee in it if thou cry unto Him.
Every day brings its own perplexity. How sweet to feel that the guidance of the LORD is continual! If we choose our own way or consult with flesh and blood we cast ok the LORD's guidance; but if we abstain from self-will, then He will direct every step of our road, every hour of the day, and every day of the year, and every year of our life. If we will but be guided, we shall be guided. If we will commit our way unto the LORD, He will direct our course so that we shall not lose ourselves.
But note to whom this promise is made. Read the previous verse: "If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry." We must feel for others and give them, not a few dry crusts, but such things as we ourselves would wish to receive. If we show a tender care for our fellow-creatures in the hour of their need, then will the LORD attend to our necessities and make Himself our continual Guide. Jesus is the Leader, not of misers, nor of those who oppress the poor, but of the kind and tenderhearted. Such persons are pilgrims who shall never miss their way.
Charles Spurgeon
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2/19/2012
He Calls It Worship
By Max Lucado
“The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” Genesis 22:5 NKJV
Abraham is about to sacrifice his only son—and what word does he use to describe the act? “Worship.” He’s headed up the mountain to place the biggest part of his life on an altar and he calls it “Worship.”
When we think of worship we typically think of offering a song, or a prayer, or a gift. But when Abraham worshiped, he offered his son. He offered the biggest part of his life to God.
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"As much as in me is I am ready" (Rom. i. 15).
Be earnest. Intense earnestness, a whole heart for Christ, the passion sign of the cross, the enthusiasm of our whole being for our Master and humanity--this is what the Lord expects, this is what His cross deserves, this is what the world needs, this is what the age has a right to look for. Everything around us is intensely alive. Life ...is earnest, death is earnest, sin is earnest, men are earnest, business is earnest, knowledge is earnest, the age is earnest; God forgive us if we alone are trifling in the white heat of this crisis time. Oh, for the baptism of fire! Oh, for the living coal upon the burning lips of love! Oh, for men God-possessed and self-surrendered grasping God's great idea and pressing forward "for the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
All the world for Jesus
My prayer shall be,
And my watchword ever,
Himself for me.
All the world for Jesus,
Lord, quickly come,
Bring Thy promised kingdom,
And take us home.
A. B. Simpson
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Joined in God
"As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Cor. 6:10).
Sorrow was beautiful, but her beauty was the beauty of the moonlight shining through the leafy branches of the trees in the wood, and making little pools of silver here and there on the soft green moss below.
When Sorrow sang, her notes were like the low sweet call of the nightingale, and in her eyes was the unexpectant gaze of one who has ceased to look for coming gladness. She could weep in tender sympathy with those who weep, but to rejoice with those who rejoice was unknown to her.
Joy was beautiful, too, but his was the radiant beauty of the summer morning. His eyes still held the glad laughter of childhood, and his hair had the glint of the sunshine's kiss. When Joy sang his voice soared upward as the lark's, and his step was the step of a conqueror who has never known defeat. He could rejoice with all who rejoice, but to weep with those who weep was unknown to him.
"But we can never be united," said Sorrow wistfully.
"No, never." And Joy's eyes shadowed as he spoke. "My path lies through the sunlit meadows, the sweetest roses bloom for my gathering, and the blackbirds and thrushes await my coming to pour forth their most joyous lays."
"My path," said Sorrow, turning slowly away, "leads through the darkening woods, with moon-flowers only shall my hands be filled. Yet the sweetest of all earth-songs--the love song of the night--shall be mine; farewell, Joy, farewell."
Even as she spoke they became conscious of a form standing beside them; dimly seen, but of a Kingly Presence, and a great and holy awe stole over them as they sank on their knees before Him.
"I see Him as the King of Joy," whispered Sorrow, "for on His Head are many crowns, and the nailprints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great victory. Before Him all my sorrow is melting away into deathless love and gladness, and I give myself to Him forever."
"Nay, Sorrow," said Joy softly, "but I see Him as the King of Sorrow, and the crown on His head is a crown of thorns, and the nailprints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great agony. I, too, give myself to Him forever, for sorrow with Him must be sweeter than any joy that I have known."
"Then we are one in Him," they cried in gladness, "for none but He could unite Joy and Sorrow."
Hand in hand they passed out into the world to follow Him through storm and sunshine, in the bleakness of winter cold and the warmth of summer gladness, "as sorrowful yet always rejoicing."
"Should Sorrow lay her hand upon thy shoulder,
And walk with thee in silence on life's way,
While Joy, thy bright companion once, grown colder,
Becomes to thee more distant day by day?
Shrink not from the companionship of Sorrow,
She is the messenger of God to thee;
And thou wilt thank Him in His great tomorrow
For what thou knowest not now, thou then shalt see;
She is God's angel, clad in weeds of night,
With 'whom we walk by faith and not by sight.'"
Streams in the Desert
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"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
Consider what heavenly blessings there are for those who have a living union with the Son of God. Everything is provided for them that shall be for their salvation and their sanctification: not a single blessing has God withheld that shall ...be for their eternal good. View them as foolish, ignorant, unable to see the way, puzzled and perplexed by a thousand difficulties, harassed by sin, tempted by Satan, far off upon the sea. How shall they reach the heavenly shore? God, by an infinite act of sovereign love, has made his dear Son to be their "wisdom," so that none shall err so as to err fatally; none shall miss the road for want of heavenly direction to find it or walk in it. Their glorious Head, who is in heaven, is made of God unto them wisdom on earth to bring them to their heavenly inheritance. He opens up his word to their heart; he sends down a ray of light into their bosom, illuminating the sacred page and guiding their feet into the way of truth and peace. If they wander, he brings them back; if they stumble, he raises them up; and whatever be the difficulties that beset their path, sooner or later some kind direction or heavenly admonition comes from his gracious Majesty. Thus the wayfaring man, though a fool, does not err in the way of life, for his gracious Lord being his "wisdom" leads him safely along through every difficulty until he sets him before his face in glory.
J. C. Philpot
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KEEPING AN HONEST ACCOUNT
1 John 1:8
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
We deceive ourselves when we say we have no sin. The Scripture doesn't say that we are sin; it says that it is possible for us to sin and for sin to reside in our mortal bodies (Romans 6:12). We are not sinless saints; we are saints who sin. It's important to keep honest account of our failures and pick up our cross daily. When we become aware of a discrepancy between our identity and our behavior, we must confess it and deal with it. The person who deceives himself by ignoring these sinful discrepancies and allowing them to build up is headed for a great fall.
Those of us who live in earthquake-prone Southern California keep hearing about "the big one," which is thought by many to be inevitable along the San Andreas fault. Whenever we experience minor earthquakes (up to about 4.0 on the Richter scale), we may be frightened by them a bit, but we also see them as a good sign. These little tremors mean that the plates in the earth's crust beneath us are shifting. As long as the crust is adjusting this way, it's unlikely that "the big one" will hit. It's when we don't get any minor earthquakes for several months or years that the danger of a major, devastating quake increases.
Similarly, living in the light, holding ourselves accountable to God, and confessing and dealing with sin on a daily basis prevents the major spiritual crises from building up in our lives. If we keep saying, "I don't have any sin," or if we fail to acknowledge our shortcomings and settle our differences with people as God convicts us of them, we're in for "the big one." We will eventually lose our health, our family, our job, or our friendships. Unacknowledged sin is like a cancer which will grow to consume us.
Prayer: Lord, I know Your guidance is for my benefit. I refuse to allow stubbornness and pride to render me insensitive to Your nudges and warnings in my life today.
Neil T. Anderson
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Better Farther On
"Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more" (Nahum 1:12).
There is a limit to affliction. God sends it, and God removes it. Do you sigh and say, "When will the end be?" Remember that our griefs will surely and finally end when this poor earthly life is over, Let us quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the LORD till He cometh.
Meanwhile, our Father in heaven takes away the rod when His design in using it is fully served. When He has whipped away our folly, there will be no more strokes. Or, if the affliction is sent for testing us, that our graces may glorify God, it will end when the LORD has made us bear witness to His praise. We would not wish the affliction to depart till God has gotten out of us all the honor which we can possibly yield Him.
There may today be "a great calm." Who knows how soon those raging billows will give place to a sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves? After long tribulation the Rail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner. We may, before many hours are past, be just as happy as now we are sorrowful. It is not hard for the LORD to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better on before. Let us sing hallelujah by anticipation.
Charles Spurgeon
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Hopeless?
by Joyce Meyer
Love never fails… —1 Corinthians 13:8
Is there someone in your life you find difficult to love? Maybe you have tried and tried to help the person, and nothing seems to work. I want to share a story with you.
Before Dave and I married, he asked God to send him someone he could help. When God sent him me, he got more than he bargained for! I had serious, serious problems. I am sure many men would have given up.
But Dave continued to pray and seek God for ways to help me, even when I acted as though I did not want help. At times, he even wept because he did not know what to do. He has even shared that he often went for drives in the car to pray and cry, and returned home trusting that God would change me.
I am so thankful today that God was faithful to Dave and to me. He has brought healing, deliverance, and wholeness to me. He had to teach me to think differently, to trust people, to allow myself to be loved, and to love others.
Our journey was not easy, but Dave refused to give up on me, and we both refused to give up on God. Though our early years were difficult, we have had many years of happiness and we look forward to many more.
Love never fails. Don’t give up on people, but keep walking in love and seeking God, and you may see the situation turn around completely!
Love Others Today: If you have a difficult person in your life, don’t give up. Each time they come to mind say out loud, “I believe that God is working.”
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2/18/2012
Two Gardens
By Max Lucado
“The Son gives life.” John 5:21
The Bible is the story of two gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand. In the first, God sought Adam. In the second, Jesus sought God. In Eden, Adam hid from God. In Gethsemane, Jesus emerged from the tomb. In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death. From Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life.
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Christ in you" (Col. i. 27).
How great the difference between the old and the new way of deliverance! One touch of Christ is worth a lifetime of struggling. A sufferer in one of our hospitals was in danger of losing his sight from a small piece of broken needle that had entered his eye.
Operation after operation had only irritated it, and driven the foreign substance farther still into the delicate nerves of the sensitive organ. At length a skilful young physician thought of a new expedient. He came one day without lancet and probes, and holding in his hand a small but powerful magnet, which he kept before the wounded eye, as close as it could bear. Immediately the piece of steel began to move toward the powerful attraction, and soon flew up to meet it and left the suffering eye completely relieved, without an effort or a laceration. It was as simple as it was wonderful. By a single touch of power the organ was saved and a dangerous trouble completely cured.
It is thus that God delivers us, by the simple attraction of Christ's life and power.
A. B. Simpson
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Alone
"So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." (Deut. 32:12).
"The hill was steep, but cheered along the way
By converse sweet, I mounted on the thought
That so it might be till the height was reached;
But suddenly a narrow winding path
Appeared, and then the Master said, 'My child,
Here thou wilt safest walk with Me alone.'
"I trembled, yet my heart's deep trust replied,
'So be it, Lord.' He took my feeble hand
In His, accepting thus my will to yield Him
All, and to find all in Him.
One long, dark moment,
And no friend I saw, save Jesus only.
"But oh! so tenderly He led me on
And up, and spoke to me such words of cheer,
Such secret whisperings of His wondrous love,
That soon I told Him all my grief and fear,
And leaned on His strong arm confidingly.
"And then I found my footsteps quickened,
And light ineffable, the rugged way
Illumined, such light as only can be seen
In close companionship with God.
"A little while, and we shall meet again
The loved and lost; but in the rapturous joy
Of greetings, such as here we cannot know,
And happy song, and heavenly embraces,
And tender recollections rushing back
Of pilgrim life, methinks one memory
More dear and sacred than the rest, shall rise,
"And we who gather in the golden streets,
Shall oft be stirred to speak with grateful love
Of that dark day when Jesus bade us climb
Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone."
"There is no high hill but beside some deep valley.
There is no birth without a pang."
--Dan Crawford
Streams in the Desert
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Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace? 2 Kings 9:22
WE all want peace. Of every telegraph messenger, as he puts the buff coloured envelope into our hands, we ask almost instinctively, Is it peace? If there is a rumour of war, a depression in trade, a bad harvest, a sudden calamity in our neighbourhood, we instantly consider the effect it may have on the tranquillity and prosperity of our life.
By peace we too often mean the absence of the disagreeable, the unbroken routine of outward prosperity, the serene passage of the years: not always eager for anything deeper. And if other and profounder questions intrude themselves, we instantly stifle or evade them. Like Herod, we shut up the Baptist in the dungeon. Like the Roman general, we make a desert and call it peace. Men will flee from a Gospel ministry which pursues them into close quarters, and arouses unwelcome questions that break the peace.
There cannot be true peace so long as we permit the infidelities and charms of some Jezebel of the soul life to attract and affect us. Jezebel may stand for the painted world, with its wiles and snares, or for the flesh, or for some unholy association of the past life, like that which clung to Augustine. But there must be no quarter given to the unhallowed rival of our Lord. Whatever its charms, it must be flung out of the window before we can be at peace.
"Then, and not till then, we shall see Thee as Thou art;
Then, and not till then, in thy glory bear a part;
Then, and not till then, Thou wilt satisfy each heart."
If you are entirely surrendered to the Lord, "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."
F. B. Meyer
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When the Spirit Is Overwhelmed
"My spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate." Psa 143:4
There are some natures more prone than others to this overwhelming of the spirit, but it wouldn't be true to say that the peril is limited to temperament. Some of the last persons one would ever dream of are prone to this hopeless sinking of the heart. I would expect it in Jeremiah, that most tremulous of all the prophets; but in Elijah--that man of iron will--I would scarcely anticipate finding it. Yet in the life of Elijah came an hour when, plunged into the deeps, his prayer was that God would let him die. There are few things that men hide so well as this inner desolation.
Sometimes such an overwhelming feeling comes for reasons that are purely physical. This is the body of our humiliation, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I asked a friend only the other evening if she ever experienced an overwhelmed spirit, and she answered, "When I am very, very tired." Nothing is more delicate and subtle than the interaction of the body and the soul. Lack of faith is sometimes related to lack of health which should make us very tenderhearted and forbearing in judgment towards those who are never really well.
Sometimes we become overwhelmed through simple failure to do our duty. To shirk our God-appointed task is to court the presence of despair. When Christian and Hopeful were on the King's Highway, Giant Despair was never encountered. But when they got into By-path Meadow, then they fell into the giant's clutches. And whenever anybody leaves the King's Highway, sooner or later, but inexorably, "melancholy marks him for her own." To omit the task we know we ought to do, to shirk the duty of the hour and shun the cross, to refuse to lift the burden and put selfishness in place of service--all this, in this strange life of ours, is to head straight for the overwhelmed spirit.
Times of Darkness Are Not Times for Judgment
I should like, too, to add here that we should never pass judgment in overwhelming hours. Let a man accept the verdict of his Lord, but never the verdict of his melancholy. Hours come when everything seems wrong and when all the lights of heaven are blotted out, and how often, in such desolate hours, do we fall to judging the universe and God! It is part of the conduct of the instructed soul to resist that as a temptation of the devil. Such hours are always unreliable. The things that frighten us in the night are the things we smile at in the morning. We are like that traveler who in the fog thought he saw a ghost; when it came nearer, he found it was a man; and when it came up to him, it was his brother. Overwhelming times are times for leaning; God does not mean them to be times for judging. They are given to us for trusting; they are not given to us for summing up. Leave that till the darkness has departed and the dawn is on the hills, and in His light we see light again.
Indeed, the great need in overwhelming hours is the old, old need of trust in God. It is to feel, as the hymn has it, that we are "safe in the arms of Jesus." To be assured that God is love and that He will never leave us nor forsake us; to be assured that He knows the way we take and that His wings are folded over us all the time, that is the way to keeping a brave heart when everything is dark and desolate. Plunged into such depths, there is something even deeper. There is the love of God commended in the cross. Underneath are the everlasting arms. So we endure as seeing the invisible, and then (and often sooner than we expect) the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
George H. Morrison
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"Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption." Psalm 130:7
"Let Israel hope in the Lord." Has she ceased to hope in the creature? Does she despair of salvation from any other source or quarter but the blood of the Lamb? Is she crying, sighing, longing, panting, and begging of the Lord to appear in her soul? "Let Israel," then, "...hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy." He will not spurn his waiting Israel from his feet; he will not smite her with the lightnings of his wrath; he will shew mercy to the poor, guilty sinner that comes with dust upon his head, clothed with sackcloth and ashes, mourning and lamenting his vileness before the Lord. There is no wrath in the bosom of the Lord against him; there is mercy, pardoning mercy in the bosom of Jehovah for Israel; therefore "let Israel hope in the Lord." If Israel look to herself, she cannot have one grain of hope; if she look to the law, she cannot have one ray of expectation; or if she look to an arm of flesh, none can do her good. But if Israel look "to the hills from whence cometh her help"--to God the Father, in his electing love--to God the Son, in his redeeming blood--to God the Spirit, in his sanctifying work; if Israel is thus enabled to anchor within the veil, thus to "hope in the Lord," her hope shall not be cut off, shall not be disappointed; it shall not be as "the hope of the hypocrite," a spider's web, that the first gust of eternal displeasure shall for ever sweep away.
J. C. Philpot
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THE BATTLE OF THE MIND
Romans 7:25; 8:1
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
Romans 7:22, 23, pinpoints the battleground for the contest between me and sin: "For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."
Where does my desire to do what's right reside? Paul uses the phrase "the inner man," referring to my new self where my spirit and God's Spirit are in union. This is the eternal part of me. And where does sin wage its war to keep me from doing what I really want to do? In the physical members of my body (James 4:1). Sin operates through my flesh, that learned independence that continues to promote rebellion against God. This is the temporal part of me. Where then do these two opponents wage war (Galatians 5:17)? The battleground is my mind. That's why it is so important that we learn how to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) and to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Paul concluded his description of the contest between sin and the new self with the exclamation: "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24). Notice that he didn't say, "Sinful man that I am !" Wretched means miserable, and there is no one more miserable than the person who has allowed sin to reign in his mortal body. If we use our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness, we give the devil an opportunity in our lives, and he brings only misery.
The good news is that Romans 7:24 is followed by Romans 7:25 and Romans 8:1: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." The battle for the mind is a winnable war.
Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for knowing me, understanding me, and providing for me a way of escape for every possible temptation.
Neil T. Anderson
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God Will Answer
"He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them" (Psalm 145:19).
His own Spirit has wrought this desire in us, and therefore He will answer it. It is His own life within which prompts the cry, and therefore He will hear it. Those who fear Him are men under the holiest influence, and, therefore, their desire is to glorify God an...d enjoy Him forever. Like Daniel, they are men of desires, and the LORD will cause them to realize their aspirations.
Holy desires are grace in the blade, and the heavenly Husbandman will cultivate them till they come to the full corn in the ear. God-fearing men desire to be holy, to be useful, to be a blessing to others, and so to honor their LORD. They desire supplies for their need, help under burdens, guidance in perplexity, deliverance in distress; and sometimes this desire is so strong and their case so pressing that they cry out in agony like little children in pain, and then the LORD works most comprehensively and does all that is needful according to this Word -- "and will save them."
Yes, if we fear God, we have nothing else to fear; if we cry to the LORD, our salvation is certain.
Let the reader lay this text on his tongue and keep it in his mouth all the day, and it will be to him as "a wafer made with honey."
Charles Spurgeon
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2/17/2012
Off Track
By Max Lucado
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27
Ever have one of those days when you realize you’re off track?
In one of my not so bright moments, I entered a 1.2 mile ocean swim. Some were hoping to win a medal. I was hoping to finish before dinner!
I’d practiced in the swimming pool. But in a wind-chopped ocean? No problem, just swim from buoy to buoy. In my case, that became, boy oh boy!
Half a dozen swimmers swam by me. So I joined up. How much easier it became. My hand slapped the rescue canoe along with the others.
“Where you folks headed?” asked the guy in the canoe.
I looked around—we were at least a quarter mile off track! So many swimmers couldn’t be wrong, could we?
Jesus, enjoying a clear view of the shoreline says—“Need help getting back on course?”
Wise are the ones who nod and swim in the direction He points!
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"Your life is hid" (Col. iii. 3).
Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-l...ike ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life and ascended Head, and even the Holy Spirit is lost in the vessels that He uses. The vine does not bear the fruit, and even the sap is unseen in its ceaseless flow, and it is the little branches which bear all the clusters and seem to have all the honor of the vintage. And so the nearer we come to Christ the more we are willing to be lost sight of in our fruit, and let others be more prominent, while we are the glad and willing witnesses of our testimony and hold up their hands by the silent ministry of love and prayer. Lord, let me be like the veiled seraphim before the throne, who cover their faces and their feet, and hide themselves and their service while they fly to obey Thee.
A. B. Simpson
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A Simple Prayer
"I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me" (Acts 27:25).
I went to America some years ago with the captain of a steamer, who was a very devoted Christian. When off the coast of Newfoundland he said to me, "The last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, something happened which revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. We had George Muelle...r of Bristol on board. I had been on the bridge twenty-four hours and never left it. George Mueller came to me, and said, "Captain I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec Saturday afternoon." "It is impossible," I said. "Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years. Let us go down into the chart-room and pray."
I looked at that man of God, and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing as this. "Mr. Mueller," I said, "do you know how dense this fog is?" "No," he replied, "my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life."
He knelt down and prayed one of the most simple prayers, and when he had finished I was going to pray; but he put his hand on my shoulder, and told me not to pray. "First, you do not believe He will answer; and second I BELIEVE HE HAS, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it."
I looked at him, and he said, "Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog gone." I got up, and the fog was indeed gone. On Saturday afternoon, George Mueller was in Quebec for his engagement.--Selected
"If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine,
In the sweetness of our Lord."
Streams in the Desert
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God Knows
"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path." Psa 142:3
It is often a deep relief in trouble to have someone with whom the grief may be shared. There is a certain pride natural to us all which prompts us to hide what we may have to bear. There are trials, too, of such a peculiar character that we can never hope to find an understanding h...eart. Nevertheless, speaking in general terms, it is a mighty solace to be able in our dark and bitter hour to pour our story into another's ear. Now that comfort, you notice, was denied this psalmist. "No man careth for my soul," he said. Crushed as he was into the very depths, men passed him by in selfish disregard. There was no one to whom he could go for a word of cheer, no one who would be patient while he spoke, no one he could trust with the story of his sorrow.
It was in such an hour this singer did what is always wise in such hours. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplications." Denied the privilege of human sympathy and with a heart that was likely to break for grief, "I poured out," he said, "my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble." Now, that this was a step of profound wisdom is abundantly manifest by its results. God answers his prayer by breathing a new hope into the cheerless gloom of His petitioner until at last this brokenhearted suppliant is set so surely on the rock again that he cries, "The righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me."
We have all seen, amid our Highland hills, a day that opened in utter desolation. There was the rolling mist, the drenching rain, the forlorn sighing of the cheerless wind. All nature seemed to brood in hopelessness as if she had forgotten to be glad. Heavy sorrow seemed to lie upon her bosom and to struggle in despair in all her voices. But as the day wore on, the aspect changed. First there was a dull and watery sun and then the heavy mists went rolling upward; the light shone and birds began to sing. So in the afternoon came warmth and beauty, and in the beauty a softness and mystery that never would have fallen upon the land but for the dreary vapors of the morning.
Brethren, have you ever noticed in the Psalms a progress like that of our hills? Have you ever noticed how often they begin cheerless and tearful and with a shrouded sun? And then have you noticed how, as they proceed, they break into the light of joy and trust, a light that is made more beautiful and tender by its trailing and misty fringes of the morning. Such is the little Psalm before us here. It begins with a cry out of the very depths. It ends with the sunshine of the glad assurance, "Thou shalt deal bountifully with me."
George H. Morrison
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"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
To look at all our varied circumstances; and then to believe that if we are the lovers of God, all things we experience are working together for our spiritual good, what a view does it give us of the wisdom, grace, and power of a wonder-working ...God! And we are to measure this good, not by what the creature thinks, but by what God himself has declared to be good in his word, and what we have felt to be good in our soul's experience.
Have your trials humbled you, made you meek and lowly? They have done you good.
Have they stirred up a spirit of prayer in your bosom, made you sigh, cry, and groan for the Lord to appear, visit, or bless your soul? They have done you good.
Have they opened up those parts of God's word which are full of mercy and comfort to his afflicted people? Have they stripped off the covering that is too narrow? Have they made you more sincere, more earnest, more spiritual, more heavenly-minded, more convinced that the Lord Jesus can alone bless and comfort your soul? They have done you good.
Have they been the means in God's hand of giving you a lift in hearing the preached word, of opening your ears to hear none but the true servants of God, those who enter into a tried path, and describe a gracious experience? Have they made the Bible more precious to you, the promises more sweet, the dealings of God with your soul more prized? They have done you good.
J. C. Philpot
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Lord, Teach Me to Pray
by Joyce Meyer
He was praying in a certain place; and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray. —Luke 11:1
One of the most important, life-changing prayers a person can ever utter is: “Lord, teach me to pray.” It’s not simply, “Lord, teach me to pray,” but “Lord, teach me to pray.” You see, simply knowing about prayer is not enough; we have to know how to pray—to talk and listen to God—as individuals who are in an intimate, dynamic personal relationship with the God to Whom we pray.
Although there are principles of prayer that apply to everyone, we are individuals and God will lead each of us to pray and communicate with Him in uniquely personal ways.
There was a time when I attended many “prayer seminars,” and then attempted to duplicate in my prayer experience what I heard others say about the way they prayed. Eventually, though, I realized God had a personalized prayer plan for me—a way for me to talk to Him and listen to Him most effectively—and I needed to find out what that was. I started by saying, “Lord, teach me to pray.”
God answered me in a powerful way and brought wonderful improvements to my prayer life.
If you want to enjoy a deeper, intimate, powerful relationship with God through prayer, I encourage you to say, “Lord, teach me to pray.” He’ll do it, and you’ll soon find greater freedom and effectiveness in your prayer life. God will lead you in a unique, fresh plan that works wonderfully for you.
God’s word for you today: Let God teach you to pray.
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2/16/2012
Give Every Day a Chance
By Max Lucado
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20
A friend shared with me the fate of a hoarding grandmother. She refused to part with anything.
She couldn’t rest because junk covered her bed. She lost treasures because they were obscured by mountains of trash. Jewelry, photographs, favorite books—all were hidden.
No rest. No treasures.
Squirrel away your hurts and expect the same. Or clean your house and give the day a fresh chance!
“But, Max” you say, “the hurt is so deep.”
I know, they took so much.
But why let them keep taking from you? Haven’t they stolen enough?
“But Max, I’ve been so angry for so long.”
Forgiveness won’t come overnight. But you can take the baby steps in the direction of grace. Forgive in phases.
Quit cussing the perpetrator’s name. Start praying for him; understand her.
Give the grace you’ve been given! Make it a day changer!
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"We will give ourselves continually to prayer" (Acts vi. 4).
In the consecrated believer the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently a Spirit of prayer. If our whole being is committed to Him, and our thoughts are at His bidding, He will occupy every moment in communion and we shall bring every thing to Him as it comes, and pray it out in our spiritual consciousness before we act it out in our ...lives. We shall, therefore, find ourselves taking up the burdens of life and praying them out in a wordless prayer which we ourselves often cannot understand, but which is simply the unfolding of His thought and will within us, and which will be followed by the unfolding of His providence concerning us.
Want of faithfulness and obedience to the faintest whisper of His will will often hinder some blessing which He meant for us until after a while we may get so dull and negligent that He will not be able to trust us with His whispers and we shall thus stumble on in the darkness and miss His highest thoughts.
Lord, teach us to pray in the Spirit, to pray without ceasing and to lose nothing of Thy will.
A. B. Simpson
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Ordering the Stops
"In waiting, I waited, for the Lord" (Ps. 40:1, margin).
Waiting is much more difficult than walking. Waiting requires patience, and patience is a rare virtue. It is fine to know that God builds hedges around His people--when the hedge is looked at from the viewpoint of protection. But when the hedge is kept around one until it grows so high that he can...not see over the top, and wonders whether he is ever to get out of the little sphere of influence and service in which he is pent up, it is hard for him sometimes to understand why he may not have a larger environment--hard for him to "brighten the corner" where he is. But God has a purpose in all HIS holdups. "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord," reads Psalm 37:23.
On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also." It is a sad mistake for men to break through God's hedges. It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.--Sunday School Times
When we learn to wait for our Lord's lead in everything, we shall know the strength that finds its climax in an even, steady walk. Many of us are lacking in the strength we so covet. But God gives full power for every task He appoints. Waiting, holding oneself true to His lead--this is the secret of strength. And anything that falls out of the line of obedience is a waste of time and strength. Watch for His leading.--S. D. Gordon
Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by? No; victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting. It is a thousand times harder to do this than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life. It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away. It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."--J. R. Miller
Streams in the Desert
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Thou hast saved our lives: We will be Pharaoh' s servants. Genesis 47:25
Nothing less would have extorted such an acknowledgment from those proud Egyptians. They were willing to serve their saviour. No doubt, had there been no provision made by Joseph, the streets would have been filled by emaciated skeletons picking their way feebly amid the heaps of the dying and the dead. Gratitude... brought them into the dust before him who held the keys of the granaries.
The kingdom of Christ is a matter of supreme importance to individuals and the world. - He is not ambitious of power for its own sake; but that He may be able to exercise it more fully for our benefit, and that He may finally render up the kingdom to God, even His Father, that God may be all in all. He will never, therefore, be perfectly satisfied till He has triumphantly entered all closed gates, as King.
His kingdom is given Him by the glad choice of those whom He had blessed and saved. - The song of heaven reflects this thought: "Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain." His empire depends on the sacrifice by which He has saved a multitude whom no man can number. Meditate much on the love of Calvary, and you too will feel that His empire should begin with your heart, and hasten to subdue the kingdoms of the world.
When He becomes king, He still further blesses us. - The first hour of Joseph's supreme power was the beginning of Egypt's brightest days. The Egyptians could not do so well for themselves as he for them. We shall never know the real blessedness of living, its peace and joy and strength, till we have utterly surrendered to Christ's supremacy. To serve such a Master utterly is to drink of the river of perfect blessedness.
F. B. Meyer
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Jesus Never Doubted God
The deepest root of all Christ's joy was that He never doubted God. And if ever a child had cause to doubt his father, I make bold to say that it was Jesus. Sent of God, He was a homeless wanderer: the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. Sent of God, men turned their backs on Him: He came to His own, and His own received Him not. Sent of God, He was ridiculed and mocked; He was beaten and insulted, and the nails were driven into His hands and feet. In such a life to trust was victory, and victory always is conjubilant. To live as He did, in a faith unfailing, is the victory that overcomes the world. That is why, right through the life of Jesus, there "steals on the ear the distant triumph song," sung not in celestial bliss but in the shame and agony of our mortality.
Why is a child such an unworried little creature? It is because he trusts his father and his mother. Why is the boat passenger untroubled in the tempest? It is because he absolutely trusts the captain. And the deepest root of the joy of Jesus was a trust in His Father which was perfect and which never faltered in the darkest hour. Why should you and I not live like that? The victories of Christ were won for us. A Christian does not so much win his victories as he appropriates the victories of Christ. Live as He did, trust as He did, keep the heart open to the inflowing tide, and in the dreariest days of February the time of the singing of the birds is come.
George H. Morrison
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"I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Galatians 1:12
When I speak of a revelation of Christ, I am not contending for anything visionary. Dreams, voices, appearances in the air, sights and sounds, crosses in the sky, and apparitions at the bedside, I must leave to others. I believe that for the most part they are the portion of... visionaries and enthusiasts, for we have all these in the visible Church of God, as well as Pharisees and hypocrites, Arminians and Antinomians. I will not indeed deny that the Lord may have wrought by them in some peculiar instances, as in the cases of Augustine and Colonel Gardiner. But taking the generality of God's people and the ordinary mode of divine operation, the revelation of Christ to the soul is a gracious internal discovery by the power of the Spirit, revealing him to the eyes of faith. Nothing is seen or heard by the bodily senses; and yet his glorious Person is as much seen, and his voice as much heard, as though eye and ear beheld his glory and listened to his words. It is altogether of grace, wholly heavenly and divine, and therefore nature, sense, and reason have no place here. It is a divine bringing into the heart of the power and presence, grace and glory, love and blood of Christ in a way that may be felt but never described. Under these spiritual operations and influences,--for it is the Spirit's work to take of the things of Christ and reveal them to the soul; it is his covenant office to testify of Jesus,--under these sacred influences, divine anointings, and gracious operations, Christ is made known unto the heart and looked unto, according to his own word: "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
J. C. Philpot
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Getting the Small Things Right
by Joyce Meyer
[Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings. —2 Corinthians 9:6
Have you ever gone out to breakfast with somebody whose meal cost them eight dollars and watched them torture themselves over the tip? They have two one-dollar-bills in change, but they know leaving just a dollar would be chintzy. Yet do they leave two dollars?
Not on your life! That would be too much. Instead, they'll waste 10 minutes out of their life getting change on that second dollar so they can leave $1.50 tip and save themselves 50 cents, rather than leave an "exceptionally generous" tip of two dollars.
But what would happen if they left the full two dollars? They'd free up some valuable time—time undoubtedly worth more to them than 50 cents. And they'd make the waitress's day. Not that the actual 50 cents means much to her, either, but the message that goes along with that 50 cents means the world! It says thanks, and it says what she does has value.
Maybe this message gets lost—she may just sweep up the tip without counting—but the generous person will always be blessed. He will know instinctively that he has done the better thing.
What an opportunity! We can increase the happiness of others and ourselves for mere pocket change! This is just one tiny example of the many ways in which the small things we do have surprisingly powerful repercussions. Small things set the tone for our days.
Going the extra mile for people—whether it's a slightly larger tip, an unexpected compliment or gift, or even holding a door for them—costs you very little and gets you a lot.
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YOUR CONCEPT OF GOD
Matthew 7:11
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
... Most people in spiritual conflict have a distorted concept of God. Mentally they may have embraced correct theology, but emotionally they feel something different. True concepts of God are filtered through a grid of negative experiences to produce false concepts of God. These false concepts must be replaced by truth in order for freedom to be realized.
A pastor's wife who came to me for counseling told me about her rigidly moral home which was dominated by her demanding mother. The father was a wimp who knew better than to interrupt the mother's tirades against their daughter.
"You really love Jesus, don't you?" I asked the pastor's wife.
"Oh, yes," she responded.
"And you really love the Holy Spirit?"
"Yes, I do."
"But you don't even like God the Father, do you?"
She could only respond with tears. Her concept of the heavenly Father was distorted by the image of her earthly father. She perceived Jesus and the Holy Spirit as actively involved with her, but in her mind God the Father, like her earthly father, just sat around passive and uncaring while she went through torture in her life.
I often ask, "If you performed better, would God love you more?" Most people know the right answer: no. But when I ask if they feel loved by God, most express that they show more love and concern for their own children than they expect God to show for them (see Luke 11:9-13). This is all part of Satan's strategy to raise up thoughts against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). If the enemy can keep people from a true concept of God, he can destroy their hope in God.
Prayer: Dear Father, I don't want any distorted concepts of You to come between us. Correct me where my concepts are wrong so I can know You in complete truth.
Neil T. Anderson
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You Deal with God
"I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man" (Hosea 11:9).
The LORD thus makes known His sparing mercies. It may be that the reader is now under heavy displeasure, and everything threatens his speedy doom. Let the text hold him up from despair. The LORD now invites you to consider your ways and confess your sins. If He had been man, He would long ago have cut you off. If He were now to act after the manner of men, it would be a word and a blow and then there would be an end of you: but it is not so, for "as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are his ways above your ways."
You rightly judge that He is angry, but He keepeth not His anger forever: if you turn from sin to Jesus, God will turn from wrath. Because God is God, and not man, there is still forgiveness for you, even though you may be steeped up to your throat in iniquity. You have a God to deal with and not a hard man, or even a merely just man. No human being could have patience with you. You would have wearied out an angel, as you have wearied your sorrowing Father; but God is longsuffering. Come and try Him at once. Confess, believe, and turn from your evil way, and you shall be saved.
Charles Spurgeon
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2/15/2012
Forgiven People Forgive People
By Max Lucado
Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4
Jesus says—Give the grace you’ve been given!
Romans 2:4 says God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives.
We’re not to be like the unchanged wife. Before her conversion to Christ, she endlessly nagged, picked on, and berated her husband. When she became a Christian, nothing changed. One might question if she was truly born again to start with.
Forgiven people will forgive others. And they’ll be grateful—because gratitude is the joy of the forgiven servant.
We all choose what lives inside us.
Make it a day changer! Choose forgiveness!
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"Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (II. Tim. ii. 1).
How to enjoy this day. This will never come by trying to be happy and yet we are responsible for the conditions of real joy.
1. Be right with God; for "Gladness is sown for the upright in heart." "It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy to be full."
2. Forget yourself and live for others; for "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances and states, "rejoice in the Lord," and "count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations."
Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to your trust; and again and again will His blessed Spirit whisper to your heart, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
"Not enjoyment and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way,
But to act that each to-morrow
Finds us farther than to-day.
"Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."
A. B. Simpson
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Out of Wounding
"Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22.).
The best things of life come out of wounding. Wheat is crushed before it becomes bread. Incense must be cast upon the fire before its odors are set free. The ground must be broken with the sharp plough before it is ready to receive the seed. It is the broken heart that pleases God. The s...weetest joys in life are the fruits of sorrow. Human nature seems to need suffering to fit it for being a blessing to the world.
"Beside my cottage door it grows,
The loveliest, daintiest flower that blows,
A sweetbriar rose.
"At dewy morn or twilight's close,
The rarest perfume from it flows,
This strange wild rose.
"But when the rain-drops on it beat,
Ah, then, its odors grow more sweet,
About my feet.
"Ofttimes with loving tenderness,
Its soft green leaves I gently press,
In sweet caress.
"A still more wondrous fragrance flows
The more my fingers close
And crush the rose.
"Dear Lord, oh, let my life be so
Its perfume when tempests blow,
The sweeter flow.
"And should it be Thy blessed will,
With crushing grief my soul to fill,
Press harder still.
"And while its dying fragrance flows
I'll whisper low, 'He loves and knows
His crushed briar rose.'"
If you aspire to be a son of consolation; if you would partake of the priestly gift of sympathy; if you would pour something beyond commonplace consolation into a tempted heart; if you would pass through the intercourse of daily life with the delicate tact that never inflicts pain; you must be content to pay the price of a costly education--like Him, you must suffer.--F. W. Robertson
Streams in the Desert
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When our heart misgives us, let us look out for one of God's fearnots. - His eye is ever upon the righteous, and His ear open to their cry. One upward glance or tremulous prayer will make Him ride on a cherub to our side, and whisper, "Be not afraid; fear not,! am with thee."
F. B. Meyer
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A man whose religion is of a shallow kind is content with only an occasional acknowledgment of God. He has his stated seasons of approach to God and his rigid periods of worship. There are long stretches of time when, as the psalmist says, God is not in all his thoughts. He wages his warfare on the field of business in total forgetfulness of the divine--a mark of a religious life which is neither very deep nor very real. It never thrills in spiritual strength or joy.
George H. Morrison
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"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." Luke 24:45
Blessed opening, when He that hath the key of David puts in his hand by the hole of the door, and opens our heart to receive his own word. Then when we go to the Word of Truth, after it has come to us, our fingers drop with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. It is said that "th...e dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." O, to hear the voice of the Son of God in our hearts! Surely it shall make our dead hearts, cold frames, withering hopes, drooping love, dying faith, languishing prayers, and fainting minds live; yea, revive as the corn and grow as the vine. What is all religion without a divine beginning, middle, and end, commencing, carried on, and accomplished with a heavenly power, supernatural life, and spiritual unction? Well may we be ashamed and sick of, and sorry for all our thoughts, words, and works, all our knowledge and profession that have not stood, or do not stand, in the power, teaching, and wisdom of God. All our talk has been but vain babbling, our prayers lip-service, our preaching wind and vanity, our profession hypocrisy, our knowledge the worst kind of ignorance, and all our religion carnality or delusion, if they have not been divinely communicated. Sir Isaac Newton, the wisest philosopher, is said to have remarked to one who congratulated him on his knowledge, "I have been like a little child on the sea-shore taking up a little water in a shell when the vast ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me." Much more may a spiritual man feel how little, how nothing he knows of the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the boundless stores of wisdom hid in them.
J. C. Philpot
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THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN
Revelation 12:10
The accuser of our brethren . . . who accuses them before our God day and night
Next to temptation, perhaps the most frequent and insistent attack from Satan to which we are vulnerable is accusation. By faith we have entered into an eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, we are dead to sin and alive to God, and we now sit with Christ in the heavenlies. In Christ we are important, we are qualified, we are justified. Satan can do absolutely nothing to alter our position in Christ and our worth to God. But he can render us virtually inoperative if he can deceive us into listening to and believing his insidious lies, accusing us of being of little value to God or other people.
Satan often uses temptation and accusation as a brutal one-two punch. He comes along and says, "Why don't you try it? Everybody does it. Besides, you can get away with it. Who's going to know?" Then as soon as we fall for his tempting line, he changes his tune to accusation: "What kind of a Christian are you to do such a thing? You're a pitiful excuse for a child of God. You'll never get away with it. You might as well give up because God has already given up on you."
We have all heard Satan's lying, hateful voice in our hearts and consciences. He never seems to let up on us. Many Christians are perpetually discouraged and defeated because they believe his persistent lies about them. And those who give in to his accusations end up being robbed of the freedom that God intends His people to enjoy.
The good news is that we don't have to listen to Satan's accusations and live in despair and defeat. Satan is not your judge; he is merely your accuser. When Satan's accusations of unworthiness attack you, don't pay attention to them. Instead respond, "I have put my trust in Christ, and I am a child of God in Him. I have been rescued by God from the fire of judgment, and He has declared me righteous. Satan cannot determine a verdict or pronounce a sentence. All he can do is accuse me--and I don't buy it."
Prayer: Lord God, when Satan accuses me and reminds me of my past, help me resist him and remind him of his future.
Neil T. Anderson
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Ever Mindful
"The LORD hath been mindful of us: He will bless us" (Psalm 115:12).
I can set my seal to that first sentence. Cannot you? Yes, Jehovah has thought of us, provided for us, comforted us, delivered us, and guided us. In all the movements of His providence He has been mindful of us, never overlooking our mean affairs. His mind has been full of us -- that is the other form of the word... mindfull. This has been the case all along and without a single break. At special times, however, we have more distinctly seen this mindfulness, and we would recall them at this hour with overflowing gratitude. Yes, yes, "the LORD hath been mindful of us."
The next sentence is a logical inference from the former one. Since God is unchangeable, He will continue to be mindful of us in the future as He has been in the past; and His mindfulness is tantamount to blessing us. But we have here not only the conclusion of reason but the declaration of inspiration; we have it on the Holy Ghost's authority -- "He will bless us." This means great things and unsearchable. The very indistinctness of the promise indicates its infinite reach. He will bless us after His own divine manner, and that forever and ever, Therefore, let us each say, "Bless the LORD, O my soul!"
Charles Spurgeon
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2/14/2012
Hoarders
By Max Lucado
”...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…Romans 3:24ff”
You and I save things—a hoarder saves everything! Newspapers, letters, clothing—you name it, they keep it. Bizarre, we say!
Who wants to hoard the trash of the past? You don’t, do you? Or do you?
A tour of your heart might be telling. A pile of rejections stockpiled in one corner. Accumulated insults filling another. Images of unkind people lining the wall, littering the floor. No one can blame you. Innocence takers. Promise breakers. You’ve had your share.
Yet, doesn’t it make sense to get rid of their trash? Want to make this a day-changer?
Romans 3:24 says Out of sheer generosity God put us in right standing with himself. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ!
Choose to make every day—a great day!
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"He shall baptize you with fire" (Matt. iii. 11).
Fire is strangely intense and intrinsic. It goes into the very substance of things. It somehow blends with every particle of the thing it touches.
There are the severe trials that come to minds more sensitive, to the minds that have more points of contact with what hurts; so that the higher the nature the higher the joy, ...and the greater the avenues of pain that come.
And then there are deeper trials that come as we pass into the hands of God, as we pass from the physical and intellectual into the spiritual nature.
When they first come, we shrink back from their unnatural and fearful breath, and we say: "Oh, this cannot be from the hand of a loving Father! This cannot be necessary to me."
And then come the pains and sufferings from God's own hand, when He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, when He lets it burn, until it seems that we must be burned to ashes, and we are, indeed, at last burned to ashes.
But we must get the victory through faith. The moment you cease to fear it, that moment it ceases to harm you. He says, "The flames shall not kindle upon you."
A. B. Simpson
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God's Will
"Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11).
Nothing that is not God's will can come into the life of one who trusts and obeys God. This fact is enough to make our life one of ceaseless thanksgiving and joy. For "God's will is the one hopeful, glad, and glorious thing in the world"; and it is working in the ...omnipotence for us all the time, with nothing to prevent it if we are surrendered and believing.
One who was passing through deep waters of affliction wrote to a friend: "Is it not a glorious thing to know that, no difference how unjust a thing may be, or how absolutely it may seem to be from Satan, by the time it reaches us it is God's will for us, and will work for good to us? For all things work together for good to us who love God. And even of the betrayal, Christ said, "The cup which my Father gave me, shall I not drink it?" We live charmed lives if we are living in the center of God's will. All the attacks that Satan, through others' sin, can hurl against us are not only powerless to harm us, but are turned into blessings on the way.--H. W. S.
In the center of the circle
Of the Will of God I stand:
There can come no second causes,
All must come from His dear hand.
All is well! for 'tis my Father
Who my life hath planned.
Shall I pass through waves of sorrow?
Then I know it will be best;
Though I cannot tell the reason,
I can trust, and so am blest.
God is Love, and God is faithful,
So in perfect Peace I rest.
With the shade and with the sunshine,
With the joy and with the pain,
Lord, I trust Thee! both are needed,
Each Thy wayward child to train,
Earthly loss, did we but know it,
Often means our heavenly gain.
--I. G. W.
Streams in the Desert
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God did send me before you. Genesis 45:5
There was great delicacy in Joseph's command, "Cause every man to go out from me." He did not want to expose his brethren; yet he wanted to say words which could not be understood by the curious courtiers. Then he made himself known, and said, "Be not grieved, nor angry, for God did send me before you." This was not only a kind way of alleviating their remorse and sorrow, but was the standpoint from which Joseph was wont to review his life-course. It was his habit to trace the working-out of God's plan, and the interposition of His Providence amid and through the malevolence and treachery of men (Genesis 1:20).
This was also David's habit, who, in the cursing of Shimei and the revolt of Absalom, saw the evolution of God's permissive purposes.
Thus also Jesus spoke, when anticipating the coming of Judas to betray Him. "The Son of Man goeth, as it was written of Him." "The cup that My Father giveth Me to drink."
It is one of the inexplicable mysteries of Providence that bad men subserve God's purposes and unwittingly execute His plans. It is not for us to explain it, but to consider the perplexities and disaster which we suffer at the hands of evil men as being permitted by God for the furtherance of some Divine and hidden purpose. Paul's prayer that he might preach the Gospel at Rome was fulfilled through the hatred of the Jews; and he went to Rome at the Emperor's expense. We may comfort ourselves whenever the storm is high, that God is at the helm, and is making the wrath of man praise Him, whilst the remainder of it shall be restrained. Yes, Joseph, God is sending you through that pit and prison: but there is a way out into sunlight.
F. B. Meyer
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The Presence of God
Now as it is with the presence of our loved ones, it is so with the presence of our God. There is a mighty power to arrest us in the controlling thought that He is here.
There is an old story of a little girl who went to the attic to steal some apples stored there. On the wall hung the picture of some venerable and long-forgotten ancestor. And as she c...rept along the attic floor, the eyes of that old portrait seemed to follow her until in her childish fear she tore them out of the picture.
If one could only tear out eyes like that, sin would be infinitely sweet for multitudes. But there are eyes no human hand can reach; the eyes of memory and the eyes of God. And that, I take it, is what Scripture means in that text so often misinterpreted, "I will guide thee with mine eye."
Linnaeus, the great botanist, cherished an open heart for God in everything. Over his study door these words were written, Numen adest, vivite innocui. And what they mean is this: Live innocently; do not sully hand nor heart today: numen adest--deity is present.
Now let me ask you, have you tried to live, "as always in the great Taskmaster's eye"? Have you ever stopped in the jostling street and said to yourself, "God is now here"? Say it the next time you are worried, Martha. Say it when the waves are stormy, Peter. Say it, David, when on the roof at evening you catch that glimpse of beautiful Bathsheba.
Men who have tempers often excuse themselves--they cannot help it; they are built that way. But if you were in audience with King George, you could control that nasty temper perfectly. And the simple fact is that wherever you are, among the crowds or with your wife and children, you are always in the presence of the King. There is an arresting power in God's presence which few of us have ever really used. It is a great moment when we say with Hagar, "Thou God seest me." You who are very sorely tempted and know it is an hour of crisis, One who is infinite love and power and purity is right there with you, and He is watching.
George H. Morrison
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"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." Hebrews 6:19
Anchors, you know, are made of different sizes. You may walk in the Queen's Dockyard, and there you may see anchors for a boat, and anchors for a three-decker. Yet all anchors are made in the same way, and are designed for the same purpose; and the little... anchor that holds the boat is as useful and as much an anchor as that which holds the three-decker. So spiritually. There is hope in the heart of the babe. But the hope in the heart of a babe is but as the anchor of a boat; yet it holds that babe as firmly as the anchor holds the boat to which it is moored. But as the Lord increases hope, he increases the size of the anchor; and as the vessel and its anchor always bear a proportion to each other, so when he enlarges the size of the anchor he increases the size of the ship. Nay more, as he increases the size of the ship, he increases its burden, for these two are proportionate. Thus hope takes a more vigorous hold within the veil; it enters more deeply into the presence of God; it takes a firmer grasp of covenant engagements, electing love, the immutability of God's purposes, and the unchangeable nature of the great eternal I AM. Have you not felt at times your hope sweetly enlarged, so that it almost attained to the "full assurance of hope?" Scarcely a cloud remained between you and God; and you believed you should ride triumphantly into the haven of bliss and peace; and having these blessed sensations in your heart, you could part with life itself at that moment to fall into the embrace of your God.
J. C. Philpot
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Mercy to the Undeserving
"He that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about." Psalm 32:10
O fair reward of trust! My LORD, grant it me to the full! The truster above all men feels himself to be a sinner; and lo, mercy is prepared for him: he knows himself to have no deservings, but mercy comes in and keeps house for him on a liberal scale. O LORD, give me this mercy, even as I trust in... Thee!
Observe, my soul, what a bodyguard thou hast! As a prince is compassed about with soldiery, so art thou compassed about with mercy. Before and behind, and on all sides, ride these mounted guards of grace. We dwell in the center of the system of mercy, for we dwell in Christ Jesus.
O my soul, what an atmosphere dost thou breathe! As the air surrounds thee, even so does the mercy of thy LORD. To the wicked there are many sorrows, but to thee there are so many mercies that thy sorrows are not worth mentioning. David says, "Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart." In obedience to this precept my heart shall triumph in God, and I will tell out my gladness. As Thou hast compassed me with mercy, I will also compass Thine altars, O my God, with songs of thanksgiving!
Charles Spurgeon
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A Perfect Love
by Joyce Meyer
And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him. —1 John 4:16
Most people can believe God loves them if they think they deserve it. Problems arise when you feel you do not deserve God’s love and yet desperately need it. God’s love for you is perfect—and unconditional.
When you fail He keeps loving you because His love is not based on you but on Him.
Sin separated you from God, but He loved you so much He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for you so He could lavish His great love upon you. If you can believe that God, who is so perfect, loves you, then you can believe you are worth loving! When that happens you can accept yourself in a new way that will be life changing.
You’re special; you have worth and value . . . believe it, receive it, and be all you can be in Christ.
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2/13/2012
Lift Your Eyes Off the Weeds
By Max Lucado
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. I Chronicles 16:34”
It’s so easy to be ungrateful—to make the mistake my friend’s caddie made.
Scott’s a professional golfer who plays at the Masters Golf Tournament hosted by the Augusta National Golf Club. The Augusta National is to golfers what the Smithsonian is to history buffs: the ultimate experience! You’d think you walked into an oil painting. Groomers manicure that course as if she’s a wedding-day bride.
Scott said, “You won’t see a single weed all week!”
Imagine Scott’s surprise when his caddie announced, “I found one!”
Don’t we do the same? We walk in a garden of grace. God’s love sprouts around us like lilacs—but we go on weed hunts. How many flowers do we miss in the process?
Lift your eyes off the weeds. Collect your blessings—His kindnesses.
Assemble your reasons for gratitude. And choose to make every day—a great day!
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"Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God" (Acts x. 4).
What a beautiful expression the angel used to Cornelius, "Thy prayers are come up for a memorial." It would almost seem as if supplications of years had accumulated before the Throne, and at last the answer broke in blessings on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated evaporation of months at last bursts in flood...s of rain upon the parched ground. So God is represented as treasuring the prayers of His saints in vials; they are described as sweet odors. They are placed like fragrant flowers in the chambers of the King. And kept in sweet remembrance before Him. And later they are represented as poured out upon the earth; and lo, there are voices and thunderings and great providential movements fulfilling God's purposes for His kingdom. We are called "the Lord's remembrancers," and are commanded to give Him no rest, day nor night, but crowd the heavens with our petitions and in due time the answer will come with its accumulated blessings.
No breath of true prayer is lost. The longer it waits, the larger it becomes.
A. B. Simpson
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In The Clouds
"If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth" (Eccles. 11:3).
Why, then, do we dread the clouds which now darken our sky? True, for a while they hide the sun, but the sun is not quenched; he will be out again before long. Meanwhile those black clouds are filled with rain; and the blacker they are, the more likely they will yield plent...iful showers.
How can we have rain without clouds? Our troubles have always brought us blessings, and they always will. They are the dark chariots of bright grace. These clouds will empty themselves before long, and every tender herb will be gladder for the shower. Our God may drench us with grief, but He will refresh us with mercy. Our Lord's love-letters often come to us in black-edged envelopes. His wagons rumble, but they are loaded with benefits. His rod blossoms with sweet flowers and nourishing fruits. Let us not worry about the clouds, but sing because May flowers are brought to us through the April clouds and showers.
O Lord, the clouds are the dust of Thy feet! How near Thou art in the cloudy and dark day! Love beholds Thee, and is glad. Faith sees the clouds emptying themselves and making the little hills rejoice on every side.--C H. Spurgeon
"What seems so dark to thy dim sight
May be a shadow, seen aright
Making some brightness doubly bright.
"The flash that struck thy tree--no more
To shelter thee--lets heaven's blue floor
Shine where it never shone before.
"The cry wrung from thy spirit's pain
May echo on some far-off plain,
And guide a wanderer home again."
"The blue of heaven is larger than the clouds."
Streams in the Desert
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And I said, Surely he is torn in pieces. Genesis 44:28
These are words caught from his Father's mouth by Judah; and here repeated, in his most pathetic intercession, with the hope of softening the Governor's heart, and moving him to spare Benjamin at least. They are very sad, and, without doubt, justified by the vision of that bloodstained coat. Yet there was another interpretation to... the sad and dark suggestion which it made: Joseph was alive, and they were soon to know that it was he with whom they were dealing, and that he was conducting them through these strange experiences.
We are often tempted to judge hastily, and by appearances; by our own despondent, sorrowful hearts; or by the reports of others. We may say that certain things are against us, when, if we would only look beyond appearances and circumstances to God, we should find that He had been working, and was working, mightily on our be-half - that all was for our lasting good.
Do not say that you have lost your Joseph; he lives, and will yet be a comfort to you. He was taken from you for a little, to bring blessing to your whole family, but to be given back to you, more yours than ever.
Do not look on the sad, but on the bright side of God's Providence. All things are working for the best. "In all these things is the life of the spirit." Do not judge Him, or try to understand; be still and trust. You will some day be ashamed of your little faith.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain,
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
F. B. Meyer
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The Searching of God
"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me." Psa 139:1
We are prone to associate the searching work of God with events of a striking or memorable kind. It is in great calamities and overwhelming sorrow that we feel with particular vividness God's presence. When Job was in the enjoyment of prosperity, he was an eminently reverent man; but it was in t...he hour of his black and bitter midnight that he cried out, "The hand of God hath touched me." And that same spirit dwells in every breast so that God's searching comes to be associated with hours when life is shaken to its depths. Now the point to be noted is that in this psalm the writer is not thinking of such hours. There is no trace that he has suffered terribly or been plunged into irreparable loss. "Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising"--my usual, ordinary, daily life--it was there that the psalmist recognized the searching; it was there that he awoke to see that he was known. And as the psalmist's, so our effort must be to try to discover how in our usual round, in the downsitting and uprising of our days, God searches us and shows us to ourselves.
George H. Morrison
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"O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." Psalm 43:3
A living man cannot, in his right mind, bear the idea of standing still, that is to say, standing still so as to have no spiritual work going on within; and still less can he bear the idea of going backward. He wants to go forward. He is often dissatisfied ...with his state; he feels how little he knows; he is well certified of the shallowness of his attainments in the divine life, as well as of the ignorance and the blindness that are in him; and therefore, labouring under the feeling of his own shortcomings for the past, his helplessness for the present, and his ignorance for the future, he wants to go forward wholly and solely in the strength of the Lord, to be led, guided, directed, kept, not by the wisdom and power of the creature, but by the supernatural entrance of light and truth into his soul. The mercy-seat is continually covered with clouds; God hideth himself, and he cannot behold him; the truth seems obscured so that he cannot realise it. He often cannot find his way to Christ; he cannot perceive the path of life, nor whether his feet are in that path. He sees so few marks of grace in his soul, and feels so powerfully the workings of sin and corruption; he finds so few things for him and so many things against him, that he often staggers, and is perplexed in his mind, and seems almost to come to a feeling in his heart, that he is destitute of the grace of God altogether, that the secret of the Lord is not with him, but that he is a hypocrite in Zion, who has never had even the beginning of wisdom communicated to his soul.
J. C. Philpot
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YOUR JOURNEY TOWARD CHRIST
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy
How do evil spirits interfere with our lives? Let me answer with a simple illustration. Imagine that you are standing at one end of a long, narrow street lined on both sides with two-story row houses. At the other end of the street stands Jesus Christ, and your Christian life is the process of walking down that long street of maturity toward Him. There is absolutely nothing in the street which can keep you from reaching Jesus. So, when you receive Christ, you fix your eyes on Him and start walking.
But since this world is still under the dominion of Satan, the row houses on either side of you are inhabited by beings who are committed to keeping you from reaching your goal. They have no power or authority to block your path or even slow your step, so they hang out of the windows and call to you, hoping to turn your attention away from your goal and disrupt your progress by tempting you, accusing you and deceiving you.
What is the enemy's goal in having his demons jeer you, taunt you, lure you, and question you from the windows and doorways along your path? He wants you to slow down, stop, sit down, and, if possible, give up your journey toward Christ. He wants to influence you to doubt your ability to believe and serve God. Remember: he has absolutely no power or authority to keep you from steadily progressing in your walk toward Christ. And he can never again own you, because you have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and you are forever in Him (1 Peter 1:18, 19). But if he can get you to listen to the thoughts he plants in your mind, he can influence you. And if you allow him to influence you long enough through temptation, accusation and deception, he can control you.
If I could influence you to believe a lie, could I control your life? Yes. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, "the author and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:2) and take "every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Neil T. Anderson
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2/12/2012
More Than Forgiveness
By Max Lucado
“This is my commitment to my people: removal of their sins.” Romans 11:27, The Message
God does more than forgive our mistakes; he removes them! We simply have to take them to him.
He not only wants the mistakes we’ve made. He wants the ones we are making. Are you making some?
If so, don’t pretend nothing is wrong Go first to God. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross.
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"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33).
For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true, "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." All other things but Himself God will "add." But they must be ever added, never first.
Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when "we are Christ's" that "all things are ours."
Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.
A. B. Simpson
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Meant to be Used
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises" (2 Pet. 1:4).
When a shipwright builds a vessel, does he build it to keep it upon the stocks? Nay, he builds it for the sea and the storm. When he was making it, he thought of tempests and hurricanes; if he did not, he was a poor shipbuilder.
When God made thee a believer, He meant to try thee; and when He gave thee promises, and bade thee trust them, He gave such promises as are suitable for times of tempest and tossing. Dost thou think that God makes shams like some that have made belts for swimming, which were good to exhibit in a shop, but of no use in the sea?
We have all heard of swords which were useless in war; and even of shoes which were made to sell, but were never meant to walk in. God's shoes are of iron and brass, and you can walk to Heaven in them without their ever wearing out; and His life-belts, you may swim a thousand Atlantics upon them, and there will be no fear of your sinking. His Word of promise is meant to be tried and proved.
There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for His people to make a show-thing of Him, and not to use Him. He loves to be employed by us. Covenant blessings are not meant to be looked at only, but to be appropriated. Even our Lord Jesus is given to us for our present use. Thou dost not make use of Christ as thou oughtest to do.
O man, I beseech you do not treat God's promises as if they were curiosities for a museum; but use them as every day sources of comfort. Trust the Lord whenever your time of need comes on.--C. H. Spurgeon
"Go to the deeps of God's promise,
And claim whatsoever ye will;
The. blessing of God will not fail thee,
His Word He will surely fulfill."
Now can God say no to something He has promised?
Streams in the Desert
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Every man's money was in the mouth of his sack. Genesis 43:21
Joseph, who gave corn to save his own brethren and the Gentiles from starvation, is a type of Him who gives the bread of life to Jew and Greek - to all that hunger and come to Him for supplies. And in this return of the full money in the sack's mouth, we are reminded that salvation and satisfaction are all of grace. They ar...e without money and without price. Whatever we yield to Him, He returns in full weight.
We bring Him works of merit as a price of our pardon; but they are not noticed.
We bring Him emotion, tears, anguish of soul; but He will have none of them.
We bring Him our faith as a price, instead of as a hand that accepts; and He refuses it.
How many are our mistakes and misunderstandings! Yet He does not for that reason withhold His blessed gift. We get the corn as an act of His free grace; and afterward He explains why it was that our careful dues were not accepted.
There is bread enough in God to supply every mouth of desire and hunger in your soul. You may have it for the seeking. The law is - ask, and have. What if you have no money with which to purchase, no earnestness, no merit! Nevertheless the best wheat of heaven may be yours. Our Father's love is constantly devising means of expressing itself. It puts money into our sacks; it invites us to its home, and spreads banquets before us; it inclines stewards to meet us peacefully; it washes our feet; it takes a tender interest in those we love; it wishes us grace from God; it adjusts itself to our temperaments and puts us at our ease, so that gleams of light as to the love of Jesus strike into our hearts!
F. B. Meyer
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The Pursuit of Happiness
If anywhere in life, it is in pleasure-seeking that it is vain to rise up early and to sit up late. Not when we are determined, come what may, to have a pleasant and a happy life does God bestow the music of the heart. He gives it when there is forgetfulness of self and the struggle to be true to what is highest though the path be through the valley of the sha...dow. The one sure way to miss the gift of happiness is to rise early looking for it and to sit up late waiting for it. To be bent at every cost on a good time is the sure harbinger of dreary days. It is when we have the courage to forget all that and to lift up our hearts to do the will of God that, like a swallow darting out from under the eaves, happiness falls upon us with glad surprise. Had Jesus lived just that He might be happy, He certainly would have escaped the cross. No one would have laughed Him to scorn in Jairus' house; no one would have pierced His hands and feet. But He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many; and so you find Him talking of His joy. Brethren, remember that nine-tenths of our unhappiness is selfishness and is an insult cast in the face of God. But the way to be happy is not to seek happiness. It is to be awake to what is higher and asleep to self-satisfaction. And then, as time passes, comes the discovery that God giveth to His beloved in sleep.
George H. Morrison
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"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:14
Of all spiritual blessings made known to the soul by the power of God "a knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins" is the hardest to be obtained, and most prized when got. How many poor tried, exercised, distressed souls are at this very moment sighing and crying for the manifestation... of this one blessing. These well know, and some of them by the painful experience of many years' hard bondage and travail, how hard it is to get forgiveness sealed on their heart. Not that it is really hard on the part of God now to forgive, that is, in experimental manifestation; for it is already done to and for all the elect of God: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:13); and again, "In whom we have" (not "shall have," but "have," that is, now have) "redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." Though he may not be able to lay hold of it for himself, appropriate it as a personal blessing, and feel sweetly and blessedly assured, in his own heart and conscience, of the forgiveness of all his sins; yet every quickened soul is really forgiven all his trespasses, past, present, and to come. It is one of the spiritual blessings with which he has been blessed, already blessed, in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
J. C. Philpot
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THE ULTIMATE FAITH-OBJECT
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
The fact that you claim to believe is not the issue of faith. It's what you believe or in whom you believe that will determine whether or not your faith will be rewarded. Everybody walks by faith every day. Every time you drive on the highway, you do so by faith. Are the objects of your faith on the highway reliable? Most of the time they are because most drivers drive safely. But you may have been involved in an accident because you placed your faith in another driver who proved to be untrustworthy.
What happens when the object of your faith fails you? You give up on it--maybe not immediately, but how many failures would you tolerate before saying never again? Once faith is damaged or lost, it is very difficult to regain. Your belief isn't the problem; it's the object of your belief that either rewards or destroys your f aith. If your marriage partner has been unfaithful to you, or a friend or relative has hurt you badly, your faith in that person is weak because he or she did not live up to your trust. When faith in a person is shattered, it may take months to rebuild it.
Some faith-objects, however, are solid. You set your watch, plan your calendar, and schedule your day believing that the earth will continue to revolve on its axis and rotate around the sun at its current speed. If the earth's orbit shifted just a few degrees, our lives would be turned to chaos. But so far the laws governing the physical universe have been among the most trustworthy faith-objects we have.
The ultimate faith-object, of course, is not the sun, but the Son. It is His immutability--the fact that He never changes--that makes Him eminently trustworthy (Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6). He has never failed to be and do all that He said He would be and do. He is eternally faithful.
Prayer: All I have needed Your hand has provided. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
Neil T. Anderson
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God Delights to Give
"And the LORD said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever" (Genesis 13:14-15).
A special blessing for a memorable occasion. Abram had settled a family dispute.... He had said, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, for we be brethren"; and hence he received the blessing which belongs to peacemakers. The LORD and giver of peace delights to manifest His grace to those who seek peace and pursue it. If we desire closer communion with God, we must keep closer to the ways of peace.
Abram had behaved very generously to his kinsman, giving him his choice of the land. If we deny ourselves for peace's sake, the LORD will more than make it up to us. As far as the patriarch can see, he can claim, and we may do the like by faith. Abram had to wait for the actual possession, but the LORD entailed the land upon him and his posterity. Boundless blessings belong to us by covenant gift. All things are ours. When we please the LORD, He makes us to look everywhere and see all things our own, whether things present or things to come, all are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
Charles Spurgeon
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2/11/2012
A Likeable Savior
By Max Lucado
“Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.” I Peter 3:8, The Message
They called Jesus a blasphemer, but they never called him a braggart. They accused him of heresy, but never arrogance. He was branded as a radical, but never unapproachable.
There is no hint that he ever used his heavenly status for personal gain. Ever. You just don’t get the impression that his neighbors grew sick of his haughtiness and asked, “Well, who do you think made you God?”
His faith made him likeable.
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"Strengthened with all might unto all patience" (Col. i. 11).
The apostle prays for the Colossians, that they may be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness." It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, and seem to say with every wrinkle, "Why does not somebody sympathize with me?" It is another to endure the cross, "despising the shame" for the joy set before us.
There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which "shall not see when heat cometh"; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds that come, to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have the glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever, and wish ourselves back for a little while, in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to get rid.
A. B. Simpson
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Rejoice in the Lord
"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18).
Observe, I entreat you, how cala...mitous a circumstance is here supposed, and how heroic a faith is expressed. It is really as if he said, "Though I should be reduced to so great extremity as not to know where to find my necessary food, though I should look around about me on an empty house and a desolate field, and see the marks of the Divine scourge where I had once seen the fruits of God's bounty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord."
Methinks these words are worthy of being written as with a diamond on a rock forever. Oh, that by Divine grace they might be deeply engraven on each of our hearts! Concise as the form of speaking in the text is, it evidently implies or expresses the following particulars: That in the day of his distress he would fly to God; that he would maintain a holy composure of spirit under this dark dispensation, nay, that in the midst of all he would indulge in a sacred joy in God, and a cheerful expectation from Him. Heroic confidence! Illustrious faith! Unconquerable love!--Doddridge.
Last night I heard a robin singing in the rain,
And the raindrop's patter made a sweet refrain,
Making all the sweeter the music of the strain.
So, I thought, when trouble comes, as trouble will,
Why should I stop singing? Just beyond the hill
It may be that sunshine floods the green world still.
He who faces the trouble with a heart of cheer
Makes the burden lighter. If there falls a tear,
Sweeter is the cadence in the song we hear.
I have learned your lesson, bird with dappled wing,
Listening to your music with its lilt of spring
When the storm-cloud darkens, then's the TIME to sing.
--Eben E. Rexford
Streams in the Desert
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The man spake roughly to us. Genesis 42:30
He spake roughly, but he did not feel so.-
When he had spoken in these harsh tones, he restored their money; turned aside to weep (Genesis 42:24); and did his best to alleviate the toils of travel. So sometimes God seems to deal harshly, and speak roughly; but there is no change in the tender love of His heart. It costs Him immea...surably more than it does us. Often when some unusual severity has been evinced, if we could but see His face, it would be full of pity, pain, and pleading on our behalf. He feels yearnings over us which He restrains, and dares not betray till the work of conviction is complete.
He spake roughly to awaken conscience. - It had slept for twenty years. They had almost forgotten that scene at the pit's mouth; but as he repeated their tones, and words, and treatment, it all came back again, and they cried, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother." There must be repentance and confession before God can take us to His heart. We must confess the wrongs done to our Brother in heaven and our brothers on earth; and many of the roughnesses of God's Providence are intended to awaken us, and bring our sin to remembrance.
He spake roughly to test them. - How did they feel toward each other: was there rivalry, or bitterness, or angry feeling? Beneath his biting words, Joseph would mark their behavior! Would they disown each other, or cling to one another? There was an opportunity for their doing one or the other; and he was glad to notice how their love approved itself. So we are led over stony roads, that God may know what is in our hearts. He gives us opportunities of showing our real feeling toward our brothers, that He may test our love toward Himself.
F. B. Meyer
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"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." Deuteronomy 32:2
In the falling of the natural dew there is something soft, still, and gentle. We therefore read, "We will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground" (2 Sam. 17:12), that is, stealthily and unseen. It does not rush d...own like the pelting hail, but falls stilly and often imperceptibly; so that we scarcely know it has fallen, till we go out in the morning and see every blade of grass tipped with the sparkling dew-drops; by these bright gems we know that dew has fallen during the still hours of the night. So spiritually, the kingdom of God is not in noise, rant, or wild excitement. The Lord was not in the strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:11, 12). And thus there may be a great deal of religious fire, but no presence of God felt; fleshly passions worked up into a storm, but no "still small voice" speaking to the conscience; a very earthquake of natural convictions, but no inward "demonstration of the spirit and of power." But when the spiritual dew falls, it drops gently, softly, and stilly into the heart, and it is only known by the sweet and blessed effects it produces.
Dew also has a softening effect, especially in warm climates, where it falls very copiously. We therefore read, "Thou makest it soft with showers" (Psalm 65:10). It does not tear up the ground as with thunderbolts, but by moistening and softening penetrates into the soil. And thus the dew of God's grace moistens and softens the heart, humbles, dissolves, and fertilises it; not by tearing it up with the thunderbolts of wrath and condemnation, but by dropping gently and stilly into it, so as to melt it into contrition, meekness, and godly sorrow before the throne of mercy and grace.
J. C. Philpot
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Our Only Answer
“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24
The world wants to know what we should do about the problems of the world. What about the overcrowded prisons? Poverty? Rape? Murder? Do you know why we never solve the problems? Because we don’t see the real problem.
The sociologist says it is just a cultural lag. The psychologist calls it an emotional disturbance. The philosopher calls it irrational behavior. The communist calls it the human class struggle. The humanist calls it human weakness. The criminologist calls it anti-human conduct. The Bible calls it sin.
And the only answer for sin is Jesus, Who executes the will of God, expresses the love of God, and expounds the mind of God.
The problems of our world are beyond solution—apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. God moves in answer to our prayers. Your effectual, fervent prayer “availeth much.” (James 5:16)
Adrian Rogers
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Christ Is Our Confidence
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
God is merciful toward us and wants to bless and prosper us. He sees our heart attitude and our faith in Jesus. When we have confidence in God and His love and kindness, we can progress to living confidently and enjoying the life He wants for us.
Note that I said confidence in God, not in ourselves. Usually, people think of confidence as self-confidence, such as TV self-help gurus or [what] athletes promote when urging us to “Believe in yourself!”
I beg to differ. I want to make it clear, right from the start, that our confidence must be in Christ alone, not in ourselves, not in other people, not in the world or its systems. The Bible states that we are sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency (Philippians 4:13), so we might also say that we are confident through Christ’s confidence. Or another way to say it would be, “We have self-confidence only because He lives in us, and it is His confidence that we draw on.”
Lord, I know that far too often I put my confidence in my own abilities, or other people, or the place I work to provide for my needs. I fix my eyes upon You. You alone are worthy of being my confidence. Amen.
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OVERPOWERING THE CAPTORS
Matthew 12:29
How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man?
A prime target for our authoritative prayer is the "strong man" mentioned in Matthew 12:29. Jesus was saying that you cannot rescue people from the bonds of spiritual blindness or demonic influence unless you first overpower their captors. Satan's power is already broken, but he will not let go of anything he thinks he can keep until we exercise the authority delegated to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we pray we are not trying to persuade God to join us in our service for Him; prayer is the activity of joining God in His ministry. By faith we lay hold of the property in Satan's clutches which rightfully belongs to God, and we hold on until Satan turns loose. He will hold on to these people until we demand their release on the basis of our authority in Christ. Once Satan is bound through prayer, he must let go.
Understanding the spiritual nature of our world should have a profound effect on our evangelistic strategy. All too often we proclaim the virtues of Christianity to unbelievers like someone standing outside a prison compound proclaiming to the inmates the virtues of the outside world. But unless someone overpowers the prison guards and opens the gates, how can the prisoners experience the freedom we're telling them about? We must learn to bind the strong man before we will be able to rescue his prisoners.
Prayer: In the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command Satan to release those loved ones in my family who are blinded to the truth and whose thoughts are raised up against the knowledge of God and to return them from enemy territory.
Neil T. Anderson
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Are the Children In?
"I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring" (Isaiah 44:3).
Our dear children have not the Spirit of God by nature, as we plainly see. We see much in them which makes us fear as to their future, and this drives us to agonizing prayer. When a son becomes specially perverse, we cry with Abraham, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee!" We wo...uld sooner see our daughters Hannahs than empresses. This verse should greatly encourage us. It follows upon the words, "Fear not, O Jacob, my servant," and it may well banish our fears.
The LORD will give His Spirit; will give it plentifully, pouring it out; will give it effectually, so that it shall be a real and eternal blessing. Under this divine outpouring our children shall come forward, and "one shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob."
This is one of those promises concerning which the LORD will be inquired of. Should we not, at set times, in a distinct manner, pray for our offspring? We cannot give them new hearts, but the Holy Spirit can; and He is easily to be entreated of. The great Father takes pleasure in the prayers of fathers and mothers. Have we any dear ones outside of the ark? Let us not rest till they are shut in with us by the LORD's own hand.
Charles SpurgeonSee More
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2/10/2012
Don’t Miss the Headline
By Max Lucado
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I Thessalonians 5:16
God notices the grateful heart!
Don’t miss the headline here. God notices the grateful heart.
Does God have an ego problem? No. But we do. Gratitude lifts our eyes off the things we lack, so we can see the blessings we possess. Nothing blows the winter out of the day like a Caribbean breeze of thankfulness.
If you look long enough and hard enough, you’ll find something to bellyache about. So quit looking! Take your eyes off the weeds. Collect your blessings.
I Thessalonians 5:16 says “Always be joyful. Pray continually, and give thanks—whatever happens. That’s what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.”
Gratitude is always an option. Make it your default emotion—and you’ll find yourself giving thanks for the problems of life.
Impossible you say? How do you know? How do you know until you give every day a chance?
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"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live" (Gal. ii. 20).
Christ life is in harmony with our nature. A lady asked me the other day--a thoughtful, intelligent woman who was not a Christian, but who had the deepest hunger for that which is right: "How can this be so, and we not lose our individuality! This will destroy our personality, and it violates our responsibility as indiv...iduals."
I said: "Dear sister, your personality is only half without Christ. Christ was made for you, and you were made for Christ, and until you meet you are not complete, and He needs you as you need Him." I said: "Suppose that gas-jet should say, 'If I take this fire in, the gas will lose its individuality.' Oh, no; it is only when the fire comes in that the gas fulfils its very purpose of being. Suppose the snowflake should say, 'What shall I do? If I drop on the ground I shall lose my individuality.' But it falls and is absorbed by the soil, and the snowflakes are seen by-and-by in the primroses and daisies. Let us lose ourselves and rise to a new life in Christ."
A. B. Simpson
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Hard Love
"When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was" (John 11:6).
In the forefront of this marvelous chapter stands the affirmation, "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus," as if to teach us that at the very heart and foundation of all God's dealings with us, however dark and mysterious they may be, we... must dare to believe in and assert the infinite, unmerited, and unchanging love of God. Love permits pain. The sisters never doubted that He would speed at all hazards and stay their brother from death, but, "When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was."
What a startling "therefore"! He abstained from going, not because He did not love them, but because He did love them. His love alone kept Him back from hasting at once to the dear and stricken home. Anything less than infinite love must have rushed instantly to the relief of those loved and troubled hearts, to stay their grief and to have the luxury of wiping and stanching their tears and causing sorrow and sighing to flee away. Divine love could alone hold back the impetuosity of the Savior's tender-heartedness until the Angel of Pain had done her work.
Who can estimate how much we owe to suffering and pain? But for them we should have little scope for many of the chief virtues of the Christian life. Where were faith, without trial to test it; or patience, with nothing to bear; or experience, without tribulation to develop it?--Selected
"Loved! then the way will not be drear;
For One we know is ever near,
Proving it to our hearts so clear
That we are loved.
"Loved when our sky is clouded o'er,
And days of sorrow press us sore;
Still we will trust Him evermore,
For we are loved.
"Time, that affects all things below,
Can never change the love He'll show;
The heart of Christ with love will flow,
And we are loved."
Streams in the Desert
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It is not in me; God shall give. Genesis 41:16
It is beautiful to notice Joseph's reverent references to God in his first interview with Pharaoh. When the heart is full of God, the tongue will be almost obliged to speak of Him; and all such references will be easy and natural as flowers in May.
These words might have been uttered by the Lord Jesus. They are so perfectly i...n harmony with the tenor of His life. He loved to say that His words, and works, and plans, were not His own, but the Father's. Once, when a ruler called Him good, He reminded him that only One was good, and that all goodness was derived from God. Men knew little enough of Jesus, because He sought ever to be a reflecting mirror for His Father, and to glorify Him on the earth. But the Spirit reveals Him to those that love.
These words might have been the Apostle Paul's. He delighted to say that he worked, yet not he, but the grace of God in him; that he lived, yet not he, but Christ in him; that he knew and spake the mysteries of God, yet not he, but the Spirit of God.
Thus we should speak. Our light must so shine that men may turn from us to Him from whom we have derived it. Whenever the temptation arises to revert on ourselves, to attract men to ourselves, to lead them to think that we can meet their need, let us count ourselves dead to the suggestion, saying, "It is not in me; God shall give" (Act 3:12). What strength and comfort come into our hearts, in view of demands which are too great for our weak nature to meet. "It is not in me; God shall give." If our hearts were inditing a good matter, they would boil over, and we should speak more frequently of the things that touch our King.
F. B. Meyer
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"Lord, all any desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee." Psalm 38:9
Many of the Lord's people cannot clearly read their names in the book of life; many are the doubts and fears that work in their bosom whether the Lord really has begun a work of grace upon their souls, and whether they truly are among the Lord's living family. But this thing they must know--whethe...r at times and seasons they can lie in humility at the footstool of mercy, and appeal to a heart-searching God--"All my desire is before thee." They must know whether they ever fell down in humility and brokenness of heart before the divine Majesty, and felt these living desires going out of their bosom into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth; and whether they can, with honesty, uprightness, and godly sincerity, say to the Lord in the language before us, "O Lord, all my desire is before thee." "Thou seest my heart, and knowest everything that passes in my troubled breast." If you can say that, it is a mark of life. If that has been the feeling of your heart from time to time, you find it was the same feeling that worked in the bosom of David. And God saw fit that it should be written by the finger of the Spirit, and placed upon solemn record for the consolation and encouragement of souls in similar circumstances.
J. C. Philpot
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A Constant Witness
"For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard" (Acts 22:15).
Paul was chosen to see and hear the LORD speaking to him out of heaven. This divine election was a high privilege for himself; but it was not intended to end with him; it was meant to have an influence upon others, yea, upon all men. It is to Paul that Europe owes the gospel at this ...hour.
It is ours in our measure to be witnesses of that which the LORD has revealed to us, and it is at our peril that we hide the precious revelation. First, we must see and hear, or we shall have nothing to tell; but when we have done so, we must be eager to bear our testimony. It must be personal: "Thou shalt be." It must be for Christ: "Thou shalt be his witness." It must be constant and all absorbing; we are to be this above all other things and to the exclusion of many other matters. Our witness must not be to a select few who will cheerfully receive us but to "all men" -- to all whom we can reach, young or old, rich or poor, good or bad. We must never be silent like those who are possessed by a dumb spirit; for the text before us is a command, and a promise, and we must not miss it -- "Thou shalt be his witness." "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD."
Charles Spurgeon
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2/09/2012
Oh Boy—My Favorite!
By Max Lucado
“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1”
Imagine with me, the diary of a dog.
8:00 a.m.— Oh boy! Dog food—my favorite!
9:40 a.m.— Oh boy! A walk—my favorite!
And so it goes—Oh boy!—my favorite!
On the other hand consider the cat!
Day 283 of my captivity. While they dine lavishly on fresh meat, I’m forced to eat dry cereal. I’m sustained by the mild satisfaction I derive from ruining a few pieces of furniture.
One grateful, the other grumpy. Same house. Same master. Yet two entirely different attitudes.
So which diary reads more like yours?
Gratitude! It’s the firstborn child of grace, the appropriate response of the blessed. Immerse yourself in the curriculum of grace! It’s so easy to be distracted. So easy to be ungrateful!
Oh boy! My favorite! It’s a day changer!
Choose to make every day—a great day.
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"None of these things move me" (Acts xx. 24).
The best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. So wrote good Mr. Spurgeon once in "The Sword and the Trowel," and that little sentence has helped many a tried and tired child Of God to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest attacks of the foe.
We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was cro...wned at Hebron, "All the Philistines came up to seek David." And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.
When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God let us accept it as "a token of salvation," and claim double blessing, victory and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. The way electricity is produced in the power-house yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.
A. B. Simpson
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Comfort in the Depths
"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee who passing through the valley of weeping, make it a well" (Ps. 84:5, 6).
Comfort does not come to the light-hearted and merry. We must go down into "depths" if we would experience this most precious of God's gifts--comfort, and thus be prepared to be co-workers together with Him.
When night--needful night--gathers over the garden of our souls, when the leaves close up, and the flowers no longer hold any sunlight within their folded petals, there shall never be wanting, even in the thickest darkness, drops of heavenly dew--dew which falls only when the sun has gone.
"I have been through the valley of weeping,
The valley of sorrow and pain;
But the 'God of all comfort' was with me,
At hand to uphold and sustain.
"As the earth needs the clouds and sunshine,
Our souls need both sorrow and joy;
So He places us oft in the furnace,
The dross from the gold to destroy.
"When he leads thro' some valley of trouble
His omnipotent hand we trace;
For the trials and sorrows He sends us,
Are part of His lessons in grace.
"Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning,
Forgetting the Husbandman knows
That the deeper the cutting and paring,
The richer the cluster that grows.
"Well He knows that affliction is needed;
He has a wise purpose in view,
And in the dark valley He whispers,
'Hereafter Thou'lt know what I do.'
"As we travel thro' life's shadow'd valley,
Fresh springs of His love ever rise;
And we learn that our sorrows and losses,
Are blessings just sent in disguise.
"So we'll follow wherever He leadeth,
Let the path be dreary or bright;
For we've proved that our God can give comfort;
Our God can give songs in the night."
Streams in the Desert
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Wherefore look ye so sadly to-day? Genesis 40:7
We may learn from Joseph the true method of bearing grief. Joseph might have become moody and sullen, absorbed in his own misfortunes, and pessimistic about the course of human life. How far removed from all this was his behavior!
He filled his time with ministry. - The captain of the guard charged him with two state-prisoners, and he ministered unto them. A new interest came into his life, and he almost forgot the heavy pressure of his own troubles amid the interest of listening to the tales of those who were more unfortunate than himself. Do not nurse your grief in lonely brooding: arise and minister to some one; do something in the world; exert yourself to alleviate the sufferings of those close by your side, who have not so clear a conscience or so bright a trust in God.
He was quick to sympathize and comfort. - Quick to notice traces of sorrow, because he had sorrowed; able to sympathize, because he had wept; adept at comforting, because he had been comforted of God. We gain comfort when we attempt to comfort. Out of such intercourse we get what Joseph got - the key which will unlock the heavy doors by which we have been shut in. Light a fire in another's heart, and your own heart will be warmed.
He kept his faith in God. - Depression, captivity, loneliness, separation from those he loved, could not quench his faith in God. Still God was near and precious to him. The stifling darkness and oppression of the prison were irksome to the free child of the camp; but God was as near as in Jacob's tent. There is no evil to them that love God; and the believer loses sight of second causes in the contemplation of the unfolding of the mystery of his Father's will.
F. B. Meyer
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The Ignorance of the Expert
"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." Psa 118:22-23
Had it been others who had rejected this stone, there would be no reason for surprise. The man in the street can scarcely be expected to be an authority on stones. If my watch gets out of order, I w...ould never dream of taking it to the shoemaker. If I did and he made a mess of it, I would have only myself to blame. I naturally take it to the watchmaker who has been studying watches since he was first apprenticed and who, in this particular business, is an expert.
The notable thing is that these builders who refused this stone were all experts. Stones were (if I might put it so) their bread. Daily they handled nothing else but stones. They were supposed to know everything about them. And yet these experts--these carefully trained specialists--had the witness of their folly facing them every time they passed the finished Temple. There, high up in the chief place of honor, was a stone they had condemned as useless. It was not hidden deep in the foundations. It was exalted so that every eye could see it. Someone had come along and had detected what none of the trained specialists had found--and the stone was now the headstone of the corner. Thus we see the important fact that specialists can be very blind occasionally. Experts, who give their nights and days to things, may sometimes miss the thing that matters most. All which, to dull, unlearned folk, is often so exceedingly astonishing that they can only say, "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes."
George H. Morrison
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Christ Rejected by the Experts
We see the same fact with fullest clearness when we recall how Jesus was rejected. "He came unto His own," says John, "and His own received Him not." Now had the common folk alone rejected Him, we could scarcely have wondered at their doing so. For the common folk were looking for a king, and Jesus was not their idea of a king. The strange thing is that ...Jesus was rejected not by the common folk, but by the Pharisees--and the Pharisees were Messianic experts. They were specialists in the doctrine of Messiah. They were considered as knowing everything about Him. Night and day they had studied the Old Testament with a zeal that was little short of heroism. Yet when Messiah came they failed to recognize Him though they had given many a learned lecture on Him, just as the Sadhu's learned Indian friend failed to recognize the daffodil.
The stone was not rejected by the passers-by. The stone was rejected by the builders--by the experts, the specialists in stones, the men who were held to know everything about them. When our Lord selected that great saying and deliberately applied it to Himself (Mar 12:10), was He not sounding a warning down the ages that sometimes the experts may be wrong?
George H. Morrison
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"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." 2 Peter 1:10
Have you any testimony to your effectual calling? Has grace indeed laid hold of your heart? O that you might know more fully--more powerfully--what a blessed hope of eternal life is laid up in the bosom of this heavenly calling, that it... might cheer and encourage you to press on more and more to realise all that is given you in Christ, both for here and hereafter, in present grace and in future glory! In knowing what is the hope of their effectual calling, the saints of God learn that this hope embraces all things which are made theirs in Christ, whether life or death, or things present or things to come, that all are theirs; and for this blessed and all-sufficient reason, that they are Christ's and Christ is God's. It is by making sure our calling that we make sure our election,--for the one is the sure evidence of the other; and thus, if doubt and uncertainty hang over our calling, the same doubt and uncertainty must rest upon our election to eternal life. But as these doubts and fears are removed by the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, and we can clearly see and fully believe that the grace of God effectually called us out of darkness into his marvellous light, then we see by faith what is laid up in the bosom of this calling, and what a glorious hope of eternal life is thereby afforded as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and thus abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
J. C. Philpot
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Declare It with Words
by Joyce Meyer
Hebrews 4:12 teaches us that the Word of God is a sharp, two-edged sword. I believe that one edge of the sword defeats Satan, while the other edge slices open the blessings of heaven.
We are told in Ephesians 6:17 that the sword the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God, is one of our pieces of armor to be worn in order to effectively do spiritual warfare.
David the psalmist frequently made statements like, 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 (Psalm 91:2)!
Perhaps we should regularly ask ourselves, "What am I saying of the Lord?" We need to SAY right things, not just think them. A person may think, "I believe all those good things about the Lord," but are you saying anything that is helping you?
Often people claim to believe something, yet the opposite comes out of their mouth. We need to talk out loud. We need to do it at proper times and in proper places, but we need to be sure we do it. Let verbal confessions become part of your fellowship time with God.
I often take walks in the morning. I pray, I sing and I confess the Word out loud. Each time I say something like, "God is on my side. I can do whatever He assigns me to do."
Or "God is good, and He has a good plan for my life. Blessings are chasing me and overflowing in my life." It is equivalent to me jabbing Satan with a sharp sword.
Verbalize your thanksgiving, your praise, and your worship. Sing songs out loud that are filled with praise and worship. Take some aggressive action against the enemy!
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LIMITING ANXIOUS FEELINGS
1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Cast all your anxiety on Him [God] because He cares for you
Let's assume you have sought God's will for a certain direction, and you believe that He has led you to make specific plans. The problem is you are still worried about whether your plans will come about as you have hoped. When I'm facing such situations, I try to follow the six steps described below to limit my anxious feelings.
First, state the problem . A problem well stated is half solved. In anxious states of mind, people can't see the forest for the trees. Put the problem in perspective. Will it matter for eternity? The danger at this juncture is to seek ungodly counsel. The world is glutted with magicians and sorcerers who will promise incredible results. Their appearance may be striking. Their personality may be charming. But they are bankrupt of character. Avoid them (Psalm 1:1).
Second, separate the facts from the assumptions . Since we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, we make assumptions, and we usually assume the worst. If the assumption is accepted as truth, it will drive your mind to its anxiety limits. Therefore, you must separate assumptions from facts.
Third, determine what you have the right or ability to control . You are responsible for that which you can control, and you are not responsible for that which you can't. Don't try to cast your responsibility onto Christ; He will throw it back.
Fourth, list everything you can do which is related to the situation that is under your responsibility . When people don't assume their responsibility, they turn to temporary cures for their anxiety, like eating, TV, sex or drugs.
Fifth, once you are sure you have fulfilled your responsibility, see if there is any way you can help others . Turning your attention away from your own self-absorption and onto helping people around you is not only the loving thing to do, but it also brings a special inner peace.
Sixth, the rest is God's responsibility , except for your prayer, according to Philippians 4:6-8. So assume your responsibility, but cast your anxiety on Christ.
Prayer: Lord, help me recognize the difference between today's responsibilities and anxieties, then put them in their proper places.
Neil T. Anderson
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The Dross Purged
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God" (Zechariah 13:9).
Grace transmutes us into precious metal, and then the fire and the furnace follows as a necessary consequence. ...Do we start at this? Would we sooner be accounted worthless, that we might enjoy repose, like the stones of the field! This would be to choose the viler part -- like Esau, to take the pottage and give up the covenant portion. No, LORD; we will gladly be cast into the furnace rather than be cast out from Thy presence!
The fire only refines; it does not destroy. We are to be brought through the fire, not left in it. The LORD values His people as silver, and therefore He is at pains to purge away their dross. If we are wise, we shall rather welcome the refining process than decline it. Our prayer will be that our alloy may be taken from us rather than that we should be withdrawn from the crucible.
O LORD, Thou triest us indeed! We are ready to melt under the fierceness of the flame. Still, this is Thy way, and Thy way is the best. Sustain us under the trial and complete the process of our purifying, and we will be Thine forever and ever.
Charles Spurgeon
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2/08/2012
New Every Morning
By Max Lucado
“The Lord’s love never ends; his mercies never stop. They are new every morning. Lamentations 3:22-23”
You said the wrong words, took the wrong turns, loved the wrong person, reacted the wrong way.
You spoke when you should’ve listened, judged when you should’ve trusted, indulged when you should have resisted.
But don’t let yesterday’s mistakes sabotage today’s attitude!
So, what makes the difference?
Daily drenching rains! Deluges keep the ground moist, the trees wet, and the lightning impotent.
Lightning strikes you as well. Thunderbolts of regret can ignite and consume you. Counter them with downpours of God’s grace, daily washings of forgiveness.
Once a year won’t do. Once a month is insufficient. Weekly showers leave you dry. Sporadic misting leaves you combustible! You need a solid soaking every day!
Choose to make it a great day—every day!
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"We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves" (II. Cor. iii. 5).
Insufficient, "All sufficient." These two words form the complement of each other and together give the key to an efficient Christian life. The discovery and full conviction of our utter helplessness is the constant condition of spiritual supply. The aim of the Old Testament, therefore, is ever ...to show man's failure; that of the New, to reveal Christ's sufficiency. He has all things for us, but we cannot receive them till we know that we have nothing.
The very essence, therefore, of Christian perfection is the constant renunciation of our own perfection, and the continual acceptance of Christ's righteousness. And as we receive deeper views of our nothingness and evil, it is but a call to claim more of His rich grace. But it is possible fully to know our insufficiency and yet not take firmly hold of His "all things." This, too, must be done with a faith that will not accept less than ALL. The prophet was angry because the king of Israel had only smitten thrice upon the ground. He should have done it five or six times. He might have had all. So let us meet His greatness and grace.
A. B. Simpson
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Spirit-Filled
"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection" (Acts 4:31, 33).
Christmas Evans tells us in his diary that one Sunday afternoon he was traveling a very lonely road ...to attend an appointment, and he was convicted of a cold heart. He says, "I tethered my horse and went to a sequestered spot, where I walked to and fro in an agony as I reviewed my life. I waited three hours before God, broken with sorrow, until there broke over me a sweet sense of His forgiving love. I received from God a new baptism of the Holy Ghost. As the sun was westering, I went back to the road, found my horse, mounted it and went to my appointment. On the following day I preached with such new power to a vast concourse of people gathered on the hillside, that a revival broke out that day and spread through all Wales."
The greatest question that can be asked of the "twice born" ones is, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?"
This was the password into the early Church.
"O the Spirit filled life; is it thine, is it thine?
Is thy soul wholly filled with the Spirit Divine?
O thou child of the King, has He fallen on thee?
Does He reign in thy soul, so that all men may see
The dear Savior's blest image reflected in thee?
"Has He swept through thy soul like the waves of the sea?
Does the Spirit of God daily rest upon thee?
Does He sweeten thy life, does He keep thee from care?
Does He guide thee and bless thee in answer to prayer?
Is it joy to be led of the Lord anywhere?
"Is He near thee each hour, does He stand at thy side?
Does He gird thee with strength, has He come to abide?
Does He give thee to know that all things may be done
Through the grace and the power of the Crucified One?
Does He witness to thee of the glorified Son?
"Has He purged thee of dross with the fire from above?
Is He first in thy thoughts, has He all of thy love?
Is His service thy choice, and is sacrifice sweet?
Is the doing His will both thy drink and thy meat?
Dost thou run at His bidding with glad eager feet?
"Has He freed thee from self and from all of thy greed?
Dost thou hasten to succor thy brother in need?
As a soldier of Christ dost thou hardness endure?
Is thy hope in the Lord everlasting and sure?
Hast thou patience and meekness, art tender and pure?
"O the Spirit filled life may be thine, may be thine,
In thy soul evermore the Shekinah may shine;
It is thine to live with the tempests all stilled,
It is thine with the blessed Holy Ghost to be filled;
It is thine, even thine, for thy Lord has so willed."
Streams in the Desert
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How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Genesis 39:9
What a contrast between this chapter and the former: that, like a Rembrandt background, throws up the bright colors of this. Where the older brother fell, the younger stood victoriously; and the light of God shone on the young heart, so that even the dungeon gloom could not extinguish it. Who does not know what it is... to be misunderstood, misrepresented, accused falsely, and punished wrongfully? Yet God reigns: and in His own time "He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday."
God allows strength to be tested. - We do not know what we are, or where we stand, till we are compelled to choose. Insensibly character is ever forming - unconsciously we are taking sides; but the testing-hour that compels us to declare ourselves causes the solution suddenly to crystallize, and we know ourselves in our choice. The man who has chosen the pure and good once, will choose them more easily next time; and at each choice will become stronger.
God allows virtue to be maligned. - In all Egypt there was not a purer soul, and yet Joseph lay under a terrible imputation; but he committed his cause to God, sure that He would not leave him in Hades; and the time came when the King's word cleared him, and he stood forth vindicated. "Fret not thyself. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."
God allows conscientiousness to be ill-repaid. - Of what avail that he had so well cared for his master's goods? Ah, but that dungeon was the subterranean passage to a throne; and through those fetters iron entered into that young soul. We all need more iron in our blood!
F. B. Meyer
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Creation's Witness to the Youth of Jesus
"Thou hast the dew of thy youth." Psa 110:3
By taking a bit of liberty with these poetic words, we shall apply them, without any prelude, to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are two expressions in our text to which we shall give attention, and the first of these is youth: "Thou hast the dew of thy youth."
They say that in heaven the saints are always young. No weariness of age can enter there. It is eternal morning around the throne of God. And if that is so, and I do not think it is a dream, it is because there is reflected the light of Jesus Christ on the face of every saint, and the light of Jesus is the light of youth. Christ is forever young. He is eternally the morning star. And that is the first thought our text suggests--the everlasting youth of Jesus.
But there is another key word in our text, and that is dew: "Thou hast the dew of thy youth." And the thought of dew calls us back from the heavens and spreads before us this earth on which we dwell. There is no dew in heaven, for in heaven there is no night, no change of heat and cold, no need of the sun to lighten the day. It is this world which is the realm of dew. It is here that the miracle of dew is wrought, where every blade of grass on a summer morning sparkles and glances as if sprinkled with diamonds. To think of dew, then, is to think of nature. On the one hand we have the eternal youth of Christ, and for us who are Christians, Christ is the creator. On the other hand we have this great creation, the handiwork of this eternal youth. Let us combine the two. Let us try and discover the witness of creation to the perpetual youth of Jesus Christ.
George H. Morrison
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"These all died in faith." Hebrews 11:13
When death came it did not rob them of their faith. They held with their believing hand in death every truth which they had held with their believing hand in life. It is in death that the gospel is such a blessing when held by a believing hand. What should we do upon a dying bed, with all our sins staring us in the face in all their awful magn...itude, accused by Satan, condemned by conscience, terrified by a holy law, and frowned upon by an indignant God? What must be our end upon the bed of death if we had nothing to look to but a God who is a consuming fire, with nothing but the bitter recollection of past sins to agonise the mind and distress the conscience? O, if ever faith is needed, it will be needed then; if ever the gospel embraced, embraced then; if ever Christ looked to, looked to then; if ever laid hold of by the hand of faith, laid hold of then! Now if you know what faith is, and your faith has embraced the Son of God, and love has worked by that faith, and Christ in that faith has made himself precious, that faith will never give up the ghost in a dying hour. False faith will then expire; but the faith of God's elect will not leave you in the hour of death, but support you as you pass through the dark valley, and land you safe on that happy shore where faith is turned into sight, hope into enjoyment, and love abides in its fullest manifestation.
J. C. Philpot
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NEW WINE
Luke 5:38
New wine must be put into fresh wineskins
Jesus taught that the forms of our Christian practice must change. In His parable of the garment and the wineskin in Luke 5:36-39, the garment and the wineskin are the external dress and the container, not the substance of our faith. They represent the religious customs, practices and traditions in which the substance of our faith is packaged. Jesus is stating a fact--the garment needs mending and the old wineskin is old! What worked before isn't working anymore. Times change, cultures change, and what worked 20 years ago may not work today. But what doesn't change is the object of our faith.
"Time-honored faith" and "long-established practice" blend together and become indistinguishable to the status quo. When someone advocates another form of practice, it becomes apparent that the security of the old wineskins rests in the long-established practice instead of the time-honored faith.
The reasoning behind the resistance is logical: "I came to Christ singing that song," or "It worked for me. I don't see why it won't work for my children." We have to ask, "Is it relevant? Does it relate?"
The older generation is the stable force in our churches. They are faithful and mature, and they represent the financial stability that every church needs. They also make up the boards and committees that determine the style of ministry, but they have a tendency to perpetuate long-established practices that are meaningful to them.
This problem is more sociological than spiritual. Why is it that a good, Bible-believing church which faithfully carries out its ministry struggles to hold onto its young people, when down the street a contemporary ministry rents a store building and has four times more young people in a matter of months? Because the contemporary ministry relates to the young and their style of music. It caters to their desire for expression and participation.
If we fail to provide new wineskins, we will be ill-equipped to serve the "new wine"--the next generation of believers.
Prayer: Lord, help me never to cling to the old ways just because they make me feel comfortable.
Neil T. Anderson
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Joyful Security
"I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness" (Isaiah 41:10).
Fear of falling is wholesome. To be venturesome is no sign of wisdom. Times come to us when we feel that we must go down unless we have a very special support. Here we have it. God's right hand is a grand thing to lean upon. Mind, it is not only His hand, though it keepeth heaven and earth in their pla...ces, but His right hand: His power united with skill, His power where it is most dexterous. Nay, this is not all; it is written, "I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." That hand which He uses to maintain His holiness and to execute His royal sentences -- this shall be stretched out to hold up His trusting ones. Fearful is our danger, but joyful is our security. The man whom God upholds, devils cannot throw down.
Weak may be our feet, but almighty is God's right hand. Rough may be the road, but Omnipotence is our upholding. We may boldly go forward. We shall not fall. Let us lean continually where all things lean. God will not withdraw His strength, for His righteousness is there as well. He will be faithful to His promise, and faithful to His Son, and therefore faithful to us. How happy we ought to be! Are we not so?
Charles Spurgeon
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2/07/2012
Yesterday’s Gone
By Max Lucado
In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Psalm 33:21
You no longer have yesterday. It slipped away as you slept.
Sorry, what’s gone is gone. The second hand of the clock refuses to tick backward. You no longer have yesterday.
This is the day the Lord has made! Live in it. You must be present to win!
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Let the words sink in. God made this day, ordained this hour, designed the details of this wrenching moment.
Each day emerges from God’s drawing room. Including this one!
Eighty-four thousand heartbeats. One thousand, four hundred and forty minutes. A complete rotation of the earth. A gift of twenty-four unlived, unexplored hours.
Here’s a day changer for you… If you can stack one good day on another and another, you’ll link together a good life!
Choose to make it a great day—every day!
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"Faithful in that which is least" (Luke xvi. 10).
The man that missed his opportunity and met the doom of the faithless servant was not the man with five talents, or the man with two, but the man who had only one. The people who are in danger of missing life's great meaning are the people of ordinary capacity and opportunity, and who say to themselves, "There is so little I can do th...at I will not try to do anything." One of the finest windows in Europe was made from the remnants an apprentice boy collected from the cuttings of his master's great work. The sweepings of the British mint are worth millions. The little pivots on which the works of your watch turn are so important that they are actually made of jewels. And so God places a solemn value and responsibility on the humble workers, the people that try to hide behind their insignificance the trifling opportunities and the single talents; and our littleness will not excuse us in the reckoning day.
"Talk not of talents, what hast thou to do?
Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two.
Talk not of talents; is thy duty done?
This brings the blessing whether ten or one."
A. B. Simpson
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Flowing From Us
"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out!" (Song of Solomon 4:16).
Look at the meaning of this prayer a moment. Its root is found in the fact that, as delicious odors may lie latent in a spice tree, so graces may lie unexercised and undeveloped in a Christian's heart. There is many a plant of pro...fession; but from the ground there breathes forth no fragrance of holy affections or of godly deeds. The same winds blow on the thistle bush and on the spice tree, but it is only one of them which gives out rich odors.
Sometimes God sends severe blasts of trial upon His children to develop their graces. Just as torches burn most brightly when swung to and fro; just as the juniper plant smells sweetest when flung into the flames; so the richest qualities of a Christian often come out under the north wind of suffering and adversity. Bruised hearts often emit the fragrance that God loveth to smell.
"I had a tiny box, a precious box Of human love--my spikenard of great price; I kept it close within my heart of hearts, And scarce would lift the lid lest it should waste its perfume on the air. One day a strange deep sorrow came with crushing weight, and fell upon my costly treasure, sweet and rare, and broke the box to atoms. All my heart rose in dismay and sorrow at this waste, but as I mourned, behold a miracle of grace Divine. My human love was changed to Heaven's own, and poured in healing streams on other broken hearts, while soft and clear a voice above me whispered, "Child of Mine, with comfort wherewith thou art comforted, from this time forth, go comfort others, and thou shalt know blest fellowship with Me, whose broken heart of love hath healed the world."
Streams in the Desert
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Judah. Genesis 38:1
This was the destined heir of the birthright of which Reuben had shown himself unworthy; and yet this chapter is a dark story of his unbridled passion. O my soul, remember that the possibilities of all these sins are latent in thee! Thou mightest have been as one of these men or women but for the grace of God.
There is nothing so absolutely priceless a...s the white flower of a pure and blameless life.
The pure in heart are the children of the presence-chamber - entrusted with secrets hidden from the wise and prudent - vessels by which God does not hesitate to quench the thirst of men, because the water of the crystal river will not be diluted or contaminated by contact with their natures. Above all other gifts, covet that of a cleansed heart. You may be very conscious of temptation, and that naturally you are no better than others, and yet if you will constantly live in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, you will be kept absolutely pure; and the sea of ink that is sweeping through the world will leave no stain on you.
The blood cleanseth- "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin" (1Jo 1:7).
The Saviour keepeth - "The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil" (2Th 3:3).
The Spirit filleth: - "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and that ye are not your own?" (2 Cor. 6:19).
God can take in hand the Judahs amongst us, and so deal with them as to produce such a character as is forthshadowed in Genesis 49:8.
F. B. Meyer
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Now it is true that we were made for God and that in Him we live and move and have our being. Yet such is the immersion in the world even of the most prayerful and most watchful that the approach to God with the whole heart demands a concentrated effort. Of course, we may come to church and be in church and never know the reality of worship. We may think our thoughts and dream our dreams and in sp...irit be a thousand miles away. But to quietly reject intruding thoughts and give ourselves to prayer and praise and reading is not always easy, and for some it is incredibly hard. If there were anything to rivet our attention, that would make all the difference in the world. In a theater we can forget ourselves, absorbed in the excitement of the play. But the church of the living God is not a theater, and in the day when it becomes theatrical, in that day its worship will be gone. If we want to wander, we can always wander. There is nothing here to rivet our attention. There are only a few hymns and a quiet prayer and the simple reading and expounding of Scripture. And it is for each one of us to make the needed effort and shut the gates and withdraw ourselves, and through that very effort comes the blessedness of the public worship of God in Jesus Christ. It is thus that worship becomes a heavenly feast--when we discipline our will to it. It is thus that worship becomes a means of grace in a hard-driven and hectic week. If it is to be a blessing, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross; we must bring an offering of sacrifice and come into His courts.
George H. Morrison
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"In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." Ephesians 1:13, 14
Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Holy are its inhabitants, holy its employments, holy its enjoyments. Therefore unless we know something of th...e teaching, the work, and witness of the Holy Spirit here, and are made partakers of a new, holy, spiritual, and heavenly nature we have no pledge or earnest of our interest in the inheritance of the saints in bliss. A carnal, unsanctified, unholy, unrenewed heart is utterly incapable of understanding, entering into, longing after, and loving an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. But every holy desire, heavenly affection, gracious longing, spiritual enjoyment, and believing, hoping, loving, looking unto and cleaving to the Lord of life and glory by the power of the Holy Spirit, are all so many pledges and earnests of an interest in the glorious inheritance of the saints in light. The love, the joy, the peace, the calm tranquillity, and holy acquiescence in the will of God; the ravishing views of the glory of Christ which change the soul into the same image, from glory to glory; the delight felt in him, and the whole surrender of the heart and affections to the blessed Lord as the chiefest of ten thousand and the altogether lovely, are all so many earnests of the inheritance above, as being heaven begun below.
J. C. Philpot
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The Paraclete
by Joyce Meyer
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [tha...t will happen in the future]. —John 16:13
God knew you would need help in understanding His plan for you, so He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you. He is your Guide, your Teacher of truth, your Comfort, and your Helper. He is also the Parakletos (Paraclete), which means counselor, advocate, and intercessor.
Jesus was confined to a body and could be only one place at a time. But He knew the Holy Spirit would be with you everywhere you go, all the time, leading and guiding you. Trust the Holy Spirit in you, resting in the knowledge that in Him you are becoming everything God planned for you to be.
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His Searchlight Upon Our Hearts
“Shall not God search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.” Psalm 44:21
Christian author and speaker S. D. Gordon said, “In every man’s life there is a throne. And when self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross. But when Christ is on the throne, self is on the cross.”
There is something you hold to be the highest good that captivates your attention and controls your life. Your decisions are made in light of whatever this thing is. Is it Christ? Or something else?
God’s plan is not that Christ have “a place” in your life or that He have prominence in your life. Jesus Christ deserves and even demands preeminence in your life. That means there is no rebuttal, no refusal, and no rival.
Ask God to reveal to you if there is anything is your life that is controlling your decisions, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Give Him permission to reveal that today.
Adrian Rogers
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2/06/2012
Give the Day a Shot
By Max Lucado
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Psalm 84:5
“This is the day the Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!”
This one, Lord? This surgery day? This exam day? This sending my firstborn off to college day?
That last one took the starch out of my shirt! We packed Jenna’s stuff, loaded up the car, and left life as we’d known it for eighteen years.
The day was necessary. The day was planned. But the day undid me! I was a mess.
But God made this day. So I decided to give the day a chance, change my view and imitate the Psalmist, “I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
Give the day a shot. An audition. A swing at the plate.
An hour is too short, a year too long. Days are the bite-sized portions of life, the God-designed segments of life management.
A day changer! Choose to make it a great day—every day!
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"Praying always for all saints" (Eph. vi. 18).
One good counsel will suffice just now. Stop praying so much for yourself; begin to ask unselfish things, and see if God won't give you faith. See how much easier it will be to believe for another than for your own petty self. Try the effect of praying for the world, for definite things, for difficult things, for glorious things, for thi...ngs that will honor Christ and save mankind, and after you have received a few wonderful answers to prayer in this direction, see if you won't feel stronger to touch your own little burden with a Divine faith, and then go back again to the high place of unselfish prayer for others.
Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you, and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares. It will lift you up into a noble and lofty sphere, and teach you to live and love like God. Lord save us from our selfish prayers and give us the faith that worketh by love, and the heart of Christ for a perishing world.
A. B. Simpson
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It Is Sufficient
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Cor. 12:9).
It had pleased God to remove my youngest child under circumstances of peculiar trial and pain; and as I had just laid my little one's bod...y in the churchyard, on return home, I felt it my duty to preach to my people on the meaning of trial.
Finding that this text was in the lesson for the following Sabbath, I chose it as my Master's message to them and myself; but on trying to prepare the notes, I found that in honesty I could not say that the words were true; and therefore I knelt down and asked God to let His grace be sufficient for me. While I was thus pleading, I opened my eyes and saw a framed illuminated text, which my mother had given me only a few days before, and which I had told my servant to place upon the wall during my absence at the holiday resort where my little one was taken away from us.
I did not notice the words on returning to my house; but as I looked up and wiped my eyes, the words met my gaze, "My grace is sufficient for thee."
The "is" was picked out in bright green while the "My" and the "thee" were painted in another color.
In one moment the message came straight to my soul, as a rebuke for offering such a prayer as, "Lord, let Thy grace be sufficient for me"; for the answer was almost as an audible voice, "How dare you ask that which is?" God cannot make it any more sufficient than He has made it; get up and believe it, and you will find it true, because the Lord says it in the simplest way: "My grace is (not shall be or may be) sufficient for thee."
"My," "is," and "thee" were from that moment, I hope, indelibly fixed upon my heart; and I (thank God) have been trying to live in the reality of the message from that day forward to the present time.
The lesson that came to me, and which I seek to convey to others, is, Never turn God's facts into hopes, or prayers, but simply use them as realities, and you will find them powerful as you believe them.--Prebendary H. W. Webb Peploe
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercies,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
--Annie Johnson Flint
Streams in the Desert
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They look him and cast him into a pit. Genesis 37:24
It is impossible to read this inimitable story without detecting in the water-mark of the paper on which it is written the name Jesus. Indeed, we lose much of the beauty and force of these early Scriptures if we fail to observe the references to the life, character, and work of the blessed Redeemer. Notice some of these precious analogies:-
Our Saviour's shepherd-heart (Genesis 37:2).
The love of the Father before the worlds were made (Genesis 37:3).
The dreams of empire, which are so certainly to be realized, when we shall see Him acknowledged as King of kings and Lord of lords (Genesis 37:7).
Envied by His brethren, to whom He came, though they received Him not (Genesis 37:11).
His alacrity to do His Father's will, and to finish His work, in which will we too have been sanctified (Genesis 37:13).
Cast into the pit of the grave, as a seed-corn into the ground to die, that He might not abide alone, but bear much fruit (Genesis 37:24).
The thirty pieces of silver for which He was betrayed (Genesis 37:28).
The indifference of the Jewish people to their great Brother's fate (Genesis 37:25).
Rejected of the Jew, and turning to the Gentile (Genesis 37:28).
The bitter grief which His rejection has brought on the Jewish people (Genesis 37:35)-
It is as though the Holy Ghost, eager to glorify the Lord, could not wait for the slow unfolding of history, but must anticipate the story of that precious life and death which were to make the world new again.
F. B. Meyer
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"Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:9
You may be cast down by many doubts and fears, and lose the sense of the Lord's love to your soul, but you cannot lose the reality, nor is your faith destroyed by the hottest flame. It is like gold; the fire melts away and separates the dross and tin, but never touches the gold. In your hottest trials you...r faith will not have lost a particle. Neither will your hope be destroyed, however you may be cast down about your state or standing; for not a particle of hope, or of any one Christian grace can ever be lost. They may seem to suffer diminution as the apostle speaks, "If a man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss" (1 Cor. 3:15); but it is no real loss,--it is merely the dross taken away, that he may come forth a vessel for the finer. The work of the Holy Spirit is as indestructible as the work of Christ; and thus every grace which he implants in the soul remains there untouched, unharmed in all its divine integrity. Love, patience, submission, and humility all remain unhurt in the flame, though the dross which is mixed with them is taken from them that they may shine all the brighter. Thus though you may be plunged into the hottest fires, you will not be destroyed, any more than the three children were destroyed in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, or Jonah in the belly of the whale.
J. C. Philpot
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Make Adjustments
by Joyce Meyer
Adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence). —2 Peter 1:5
Sometimes we have to make a few adjustments in our lifestyle to follow wisdom.
We may have to say no to too much activity. Hebrews 11:1 teaches that faith is the assurance of things we do not see now.
But like God we can call “those things that be not, as though they are” (see Romans 4:17). This spiritual principle applies in the negative realm as well as in the positive realm. So we may need to make some adjustments to the things we say.
If you feel that it is hard to get up in the morning, don’t say, “I am too tired.” Get all of that weak, tired, wimpy, quitter, give-up talk out of your vocabulary. Instead, say, “Because the Lord is my strength, I can do whatever I need to do today.”
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THE ESSENCE OF TEMPTATION
Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin
I have found that many Christians struggle with the distinction between temptation and sin. Bombarded by tempting thoughts, they conclude that there must be something pretty sick about them. But even Jesus was "tempted in all things as we are." But finish the verse: "Yet without sin." As long as we are in the world, we are exposed to temptation just like Jesus was. But He didn't sin, and we don't have to sin either (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The basis for temptation is legitimate human needs. We will either look to the world, the flesh and the devil to have our needs met, or we will look to Christ who promises to meet our needs (Philippians 4:19). The essence of temptation is the invitation to live independently of God.
The power of temptation depends on the strength of the strongholds which have been developed in our minds as we learned to live independently of God. If you were raised in a Christian home where magazines and television programs of questionable moral value were not allowed, the power of sexual temptation in your life will not be as great as for someone who grew up exposed to pornographic materials. Why? Because your legitimate need to be loved and accepted was met by parents who also protected you from exposure to illegitimate means of meeting your needs. The person who grew up in an environment of immorality may experience a greater struggle with sexual temptation simply because that stronghold in the mind was well-established before he was born again.
Jesus was tempted to meet His own physical needs by using His divine attributes independently of the Father to turn a rock into bread. But instead He responded, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). We also must respond to temptation by relying on God to meet our needs.
Neil T. Anderson
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Blessing in the City
"If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, blessed shalt thou be in the city" (Deuteronomy 28:2-3).
The city is full of care, and he who has to go there from day to day finds it to be a place of great wear and tear. It is full of noise, and stir, and bustle, and sore travail; many are its temptations, losses, and worries. But to go there with the divine bl...essing takes off the edge of its difficulty; to remain there with that blessing is to find pleasure in its duties and strength equal to its demands. A blessing in the city may not make us great, but it will keep us good; it may not make us rich, but it will preserve us honest. Whether we are porters, or clerks, or managers, or merchants, or magistrates, the city will afford us opportunities for usefulness. It is good fishing where there are shoals of fish, and it is hopeful to work for our LORD amid the thronging crowds. We might prefer the quiet of a country life; but if called to town, we may certainly prefer it because there is room for our energies. Today let us expect good things because of this promise, and let our care be to have an open ear to the voice of the LORD and a ready hand to execute His bidding. Obedience brings the blessing. "In keeping his commandments there is great reward."
Charles Spurgeon
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Seeing the Unseen—Moving Beyond Your Five Senses
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
Many Christians are so materialistic that they never look past the physical world to the transcendent Christ above. They only experience what their five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing) bring to them.
When a problem arises, it blows out every candle in their souls, knocks the sun out of their sky, and they can’t enjoy the daily bread of life that Jesus promises.
For some reading this, you have a gigantic problem that to the world has “disaster” written all over it. If you are seeking first His righteousness, God will give you all that you need. You have God on your side—the King of kings, the Lord of lords. And don’t you forget it.
Adrian Rogers
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2/05/2012
Go To God
By Max Lucado
“Anyone who is having troubles should pray.” James 5:13
Have you taken your disappointments to God? You’ve shared them with your neighbor, your relatives, your friends. But have you taken them to God?
Before you go anywhere else with your disappointments, go to God.
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"Rest in the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii.).
In the old creation the week began with work and ended with Sabbath rest. The resurrection week begins with the first day--first rest, then labor.
So we must first cease from our own works as God did from His, and enter into His rest, and then we will work, with rested hearts, His works with effectual power.
But why "labor to enter into rest"? See that ship--how restfully she sails over the waters, her sails swelling with the gale; and borne without an effort! And yet, look at that man at the helm. See how firmly he holds the rudder, bearing against the wind, and holding her steady to her position. Let him for a moment relax his steady hold and the ship will fall listlessly along the wind. The sails will flap, the waves will toss the vessel at their will, and all rest and power will have gone. It is the fixed helm that brings the steadying power of the wind. And so He has said, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." The steady will and stayed heart are ours. The keeping is the Lord's. So let us labor to enter and abide in His rest.
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When Do We Praise
"And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me" (John 11:41).
This is a very strange and unusual order. Lazarus is still in the grave, and the thanksgiving precedes the miracle of resurrection. I thought that the thanksgiving would have risen when the great deed had been wrought, and Lazarus was restored to life aga...in. But Jesus gives thanks for what He is about to receive. The gratitude breaks forth before the bounty has arrived, in the assurance that it is certainly on the way. The song of victory is sung before the battle has been fought. It is the sower who is singing the song of the harvest home. It is thanksgiving before the miracle!
Who thinks of announcing a victory-psalm when the crusaders are just starting out for the field? Where can we hear the grateful song for the answer which has not yet been received? And after all, there is nothing strange or forced, or unreasonable in the Master's order. Praise is really the most vital preparatory ministry to the working of the miracles. Miracles are wrought by spiritual power. Spiritual power is always proportioned to our faith.--Dr. Jowett
PRAISE CHANGES THINGS
Nothing so pleases God in connection with our prayer as our praise, and nothing so blesses the man who prays as the praise which he offers. I got a great blessing once in China in this connection. I had received bad and sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed, but the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, but the darkness only deepened. Just then I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: "Try Thanksgiving." I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return. Yes, the Psalmist was right, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."--Rev. Henry W. Frost
Streams in the Desert
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"Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:17
The way to learn truth is to be much in prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ; as you lie upon your bed, as engaged in your daily occupation, to be from time to time looking up to the Lord himself as he sits upon his throne of grace, and be begging of him to teach you himself, for he is the best teacher. The words which he speaks, they "are... spirit and life." What he writes upon our hearts is written in characters which will "stand every storm and live at last." We forget what we learn from man, but we never forget what we learn from Jesus. Men may deceive--Christ cannot. You can trust no minister really and fully. Though you may receive truth from his lips, it is always mixed with human infirmity. But what you get from the lips of Jesus, you get in all its purity and power. It comes warm from Him; it comes cold from us. It drops like the rain and distils like the dew from his mouth; it comes only second-hand from ours. If I preach to you the truth, I preach indeed as the Lord enables me to speak. But it is he who must speak with power to your souls to do you any real good. Look then from me; look beyond me, to him who alone can teach us both. By looking to Jesus in the inmost feelings of your soul, you will draw living truth from out of his bosom into your own, from his heart into your heart, and thus will come feelingly and experimentally to know the blessedness of his own declaration: "I am the truth."
J. C. Philpot
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What's in a Name? Everything!
by Joyce Meyer
…Jesus is the Christ…you may have life through (in) His name [through Who He is].
—John 20:31
The name of Jesus represents everything that He is—all His righteousness, perfection, grace, and love. There is no power in your name or my name, but there is awesome power in the name of Jesus. It represents everything about who He is.
Let’s think about this in practical terms. My name has not always been Joyce Meyer. I did not take Dave’s last name until I married him. Nothing of his belonged to me until we entered into the legal covenant of marriage. When we married, I did not have much money; in fact, I was in debt.
Dave did have money, so when I married him, I had money, too, and was able to pay off my bills. I did not have access to anything of Dave’s until I married him and took his name. When I became Mrs. Dave Meyer, everything he had became mine.
We cannot “date” Jesus and expect to enjoy the privileges that come with true commitment. By that, I mean that we cannot just spend time with Him occasionally and try to keep up a relationship only because of the blessings He offers us. We can only enjoy the full privileges of a relationship with Him when our hearts are truly committed.
God knows whether we are “dating” or whether we have given ourselves to Him in total commitment. When we are joined to Him in committed relationship, we can be confident that He will give to us everything His name affords—and we can enjoy it.
Love God Today: Are you in a committed relationship with Jesus? Then everything His name represents belongs to you.See More
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Justice Satisfied
"When I see the blood, l will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13).
My own sight of the precious blood is for my comfort; but it is the LORD's sight of it which secures my safety. Even when I am unable to behold it, the LORD looks at it and passes over me because of it. If I am not so much at ease as I ought to be, because my faith is dim, yet I am equally safe because the LORD's... eye is not dim, and He sees the blood of the great Sacrifice with steady gaze. What a joy is this! The LORD sees the deep inner meaning, the infinite fullness of all that is meant by the death of His dear Son. He sees it with restful memory of justice satisfied and all His matchless attributes glorified. He beheld creation in its progress and said, "It is very good"; but what does He say of redemption in its completeness? What does He say of the obedience even unto death of His well-beloved Son? None can tell His delight in Jesus, His rest in the sweet savor which Jesus presented when He offered Himself without spot unto God. Now rest we in calm security. We have God's sacrifice and God's Word to create in us a sense of perfect security. He will, He must, pass over us, because He spared not our glorious Substitute. Justice joins hands with love to provide everlasting salvation for all the blood-besprinkled.
Charles Spurgeon
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Nothing is more foundational to your freedom from Satan's bondage than understanding and affirming what God has done for you in Christ and who you are as a result. We all live in accordance with our perceived identity. In fact, we cannot consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how we perceive ourselves. Your attitudes, actions, responses and reactions to life's circumstances are oft...en determined by your conscious and subconscious self-perception. If you see yourself as the helpless victim of Satan and his schemes, you will live like his victim and be in bondage to his lies. But if you see yourself as the dearly loved and accepted child of God that you really are, you will more likely live like a child of God.
Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, that You have made me more than a conqueror. Because of Your love and power, I can live as a victor instead of a victim today.
Neil T. Anderson
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It Is Yours, Lord—Everything
“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24
Very early in our marriage, Joyce and I got on our knees and made a solemn vow before God that all we had would belong to Jesus Christ. We would not really own title to anything.
...
Now, we might hold title as far as men were concerned, but everything we owned would belong to the Lord. If He wanted it, He could have it. If He wanted to use it, if He wanted to destroy it, if He wanted to give it away, if He wanted to give more, that was His business.
Have you done that? Have you transferred everything to Christ? It’s not your fame, it’s your faith. It’s not your ability, it’s your availability. It’s not your scholarship, it’s your sacrifice.
Stop now this moment and think about what you have. Are you willing to “transfer the title”? Tell the Lord Jesus Christ that He is the true owner of all you have—including your abilities.
Adrian Rogers
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2/04/2012
Absolute Love
By Max Lucado
“His love has taken over our lives; God’s faithful ways are eternal.” Psalm 117:2
The Message
God’s love for you is not dependent on how you look, how you think, how you act, or how perfect you are. His love is absolutely nonnegotiable and nonreturnable. Ours is a faithful God.
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"Lo, I am with you alway" (Matt. xxviii. 20).
This living Christ is not the person that was, but the person that still is, your living Lord. At Preston Pans, near Edinburgh, I looked on the field where in the olden days armies were engaged in contest. In the crisis of the battle the chieftain fell wounded. His men were about to shrink away from the field when they saw their leader's ...form go down; their strong hands held the claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered for a moment. Then the old chieftain rallied strength enough to rise on his elbow and cry: "I am not dead, my children, I am only watching you--to see my clansmen do their duty." And so from the other side of Calvary He is speaking; we cannot see Him, but He says, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world"; and He puts it, "I am"--an uninterrupted and continuous presence. Not "I will be," but the unbroken presence still is with us forevermore.
Soon the conflict shall be done,
Soon the battle shall be won;
Soon shall wave the victor's palm,
Soon shall sing the eternal Psalm;
Then our joyful song shall be,
I have overcome through Thee.
A. B. Simpson
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Make a Way
"I will make all my mountains a way" (Isa.49:11).
God will make obstacles serve His purpose. We all have mountains in our lives. There are people and things that threaten to bar our progress in the Divine life. Those heavy claims, that uncongenial occupation, that thorn in the flesh, that daily cross--we think that if only these were removed we might live purer..., tenderer, holier lives; and often we pray for their removal.
"Oh, fools, and slow of heart!" These are the very conditions of achievement; they have been put into our lives as the means to the very graces and virtues for which we have been praying so long. Thou hast prayed for patience through long years, but there is something that tries thee beyond endurance; thou hast fled from it, evaded it, accounted it an unsurmountable obstacle to the desired attainment, and supposed that its removal would secure thy immediate deliverance and victory.
Not so! Thou wouldest gain only the cessation of temptations to impatience. But this would not be patience. Patience can be acquired only through just such trials as now seem unbearable. Go back; submit thyself. Claim to be a partaker in the patience of Jesus. Meet thy trials in Him. There is nothing in life which harasses and annoys that may not become subservient to the highest ends. They are His mountains. He puts them there. We know that God will not fail to keep His promise. "God understandeth the way thereof and knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven"; and when we come to the foot of the mountains, we shall find the way.--Christ in Isaiah, by Meyer
"The meaning of trial is not only to test worthiness, but to increase it; as the oak is not only tested by the storm, but toughened by them."
Streams in the Desert
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Refusing to Go Back
"So will not we go back from thee." Psa 80:18
To go back from God is to desert Him. It is to turn away the footsteps of our heart from Him. It is to doubt the vision we have had of Him in our more intense and illumined moments.
To determine that whatever comes, we shall not go back from God, is one of the open secrets of the saints. To cling to Him when life is difficult and we are tempted to question if He cares; to believe in Him with a simple childlike faith when clouds and darkness hide His throne--this is one of the triumphs of the spirit which makes the humblest life a thing of victory and brings it to the sunrise at the end.
When Mallory and Irvine were last seen climbing Everest, they were "going strong for the top." From that top, a thousand feet above them, nothing could turn them back. What a great victory it would be for all of us were we to say, like these heroic climbers, So we shall not go back from Thee.
When Things Eternal Grow Dim
We are tempted sometimes to go back from God by the apparent indifference of heaven. There are seasons of the soul when things unseen are touched with a strange sense of unreality. The lamp that burns upon my study table is as nothing to the radiance of the moon. But then the lamp is near me, and I read by it till I grow oblivious of the moon.
And so there are seasons when the things around us so grip us in their vividness that things eternal tend to grow unreal. At such times we do not renounce God, but we are often tempted to go back from Him. We grow oblivious to His peace and light and there passes a certain deadness over us as the winter, and we forfeit the joy of our salvation. Prayer becomes a chore; the Bible loses its fragrance and its dew. We are in the dark night of the soul and lying under spiritual desertion. But even so (observe the psalmist's word) the true heart will cry out of the darkness, "We will not go back from thee." To cling to God and His great love to us when things grow dim and shadowy and distant, to affirm God to our own souls in the hours when the unseen is as a dream is one of the tasks of all who claim the name of Christ. "So will not we go back from thee."
We are also tempted to this retrogression in hours when all the lights are burning low. None is so strong that he does not now and then have fainting spells. We lose heart, and a dull depression seizes on our spirits. We move on the flat margins of despair, and are all tempted to go back from God as the disciples were tempted to go back from Christ.
To be perfect as our heavenly Father is a standard that often seems impossible. Is it any use striving to be holy with these insurgent and rebellious hearts? Is not sainthood for rare and elect souls, and beyond the compass of our common clay? So are we tempted to take the lower road, thinking it more on the level of our powers, and we settle down into second best. That is the tragedy of many lives--they have settled down into the second best. They had visions once of the summit of Mount Everest; now they are content to dwell below it. But the real victory of this life of ours is not to gain the summit we have seen; it is to keep on climbing to the end. God's best in Christ is not for elect souls. It is for everyone who trusts Him. Things that are impossible with man are possible with God, and in spite of all our failures, we shall not go back from Thee.
George H. Morrison
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"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Revelation 19:7
We want two things to take us to heaven; a title to it, and a meetness for it. Our only title to heaven is the blood and righteousness of the Son of God--that blood which "cleanseth from all sin," and that righteousness which "justifies us ...from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses." Nothing unclean or defiled can enter heaven. This is God's own testimony: "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. 21:27). But besides the title, there must be also a meetness for this heavenly city, according to the words of the apostle: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). Whilst here below, then, we must learn to sing some notes of that joyous anthem which will issue in full, uninterrupted harmony from the hearts and lips of the redeemed in the realms above, when that glorious company will ever cry, "Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God." If we are to sit down among those blessed ones who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb, not only must we be "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints," but we must have had "the kingdom of God, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17), set up in our hearts.
J. C. Philpot
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AN ENTIRELY NEW SELF
Ephesians 5:8
You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light
Ephesians 5:8 describes the essential change of nature which occurs at salvation. It doesn't say you were in darkness; it says you were darkness. Darkness was your nature, your very essence, as an unbeliever. Nor does it say you are now in the light; it says you are light. God changed your basic nature from darkness to light. The issue in this passage is not improving your nature. Your new nature is already determined. The issue is learning to walk in harmony with your new nature.
Why do you need the nature of Christ within you? So you can be like Christ, not just act like Him. God has not given us the power to imitate Him. He has made us partakers of His nature so that we can actually be like Him. You don't become a Christian by acting like one. We are not on a performance basis with God. He doesn't say, "Here are My standards, now you measure up." He knows you can't solve the problem of an old sinful self by simply improving your behavior. He must change your nature, give you an entirely new self--the life of Christ in you--which is the grace you need to measure up to His standards.
That was the point of His message in the Sermon on the Mount: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). The scribes and Pharisees were the religious perfectionists of their day. They had external behavior down to a science, but their hearts were like the insides of a tomb: reeking of death. Jesus is only interested in creating new persons from the inside out by infusing in them a brand-new nature and creating in them a new self. Only after He changes your identity and makes you a partaker of His nature will you be able to change your behavior.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You for rescuing me from the kingdom of darkness and transferring me into Your marvelous light. I choose to walk as a child of light today.
Neil T. Anderson
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He Will Return
"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18).
He left us, and yet we are not left orphans. He is our comfort, and He is gone; but we are not comfortless. Our comfort is that He will come to us, and this is consolation enough to sustain us through His prolonged absence. Jesus is already on His way: He says, "I come quickly": He rides posthaste toward us. He... says, "I will come": and none can prevent His coming, or put it back for a quarter of an hour. He specially says, "I will come to you"; and so He will. His coming is specially to and for His own people. This is meant to be their present comfort while they mourn that the Bridegroom doth not yet appear.
When we lose the joyful sense of His presence we mourn, but we may not sorrow as if there were no hope. Our LORD in a little wrath has hid Himself from us for a moment, but He will return in full favor. He leaves us in a sense, but only in a sense. When He withdraws, He leaves a pledge behind that He will return. O LORD, come quickly! There is no life in this earthly existence if Thou be gone. We sigh for the return of Thy sweet smile. When wilt Thou come unto us? We are sure Thou wilt appear; but be Thou like a roe, or a young hart. Make no tarrying, O our God!
Charles Spurgeon
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Launch Out
by Joyce Meyer
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” —Luke 5:4 NKJV
The only way we ever reach our final destination and succeed at being our true selves is to take many, many steps of faith. Stepping out into the unknown—into something we have never done before—can leave us shaking in our boots. Because of feelings of fear, many people never “step out,” therefore they never “find out” what they are capable of.
I believe we are very close to the time when Jesus will return for His Church, and I don’t think He has time to spend months and months convincing each of us to obey when He wants us to step out into something. I believe the more we progress into what we call “the last days,” the more God is going to require radical steps of obedience.
Many people are missing the will of God for their lives because they are “playing it safe.” I don’t want to come to the end of my life and say, “I was safe, but I’m sorry.”
The world has a little saying: “Better safe than sorry.” I am not sure that always works in God’s economy. If I had tried to be safe all the time, I am sure I would not be where I am today.
Lord, there truly is no safe place apart from being with You, walking in Your will for my life. I refuse to play it safe as long as I know what You want. Amen.
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2/03/2012
Wired for Disaster
By Max Lucado
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23”
We often do to our day what I did to a recent bike ride.
My friend and I were on a hill-country trek. Within a half hour my thighs ached and my lungs heaved like a beached whale. I could hardly pump the pedals.
That’s when my riding partner discovered the problem. Both rear brakes were rubbing my back tire. It was a ride destined to be a tough one!
Don’t we do the same? Guilt presses on one side. Dread drags the other.
And we sabotage our day, wiring it for disaster! Downloading tomorrow’s struggles.
How about a day changer? Here’s my proposal: consult Jesus. He has something to say about our days.
Give us day by day our daily bread. Take up your cross each day and follow Me!
Give the day a chance. Fill it with God.
Choose to make it a great day—every day!
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"He went out, not knowing whither He went" (Heb. xi. 8).
It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea; and when we came within twenty miles of land we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.
How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing but trusting.
A. B. Simpson
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Do It Now!
"A cup of cold water only" (Matt. 10:42).
What am I to do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good work, therefore, any kindness, or any service I can render to any soul of man or animal let me do it now. Let me not neglect or defer it, for I shall not pass this way again. --An Old Quaker Saying
It isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bitter heartache
At the setting of the sun;
The tender word unspoken,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of your brother's way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle and winsome tone,
That you had no time or thought for,
With troubles enough of your own.
These little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind,
These chances to be angels,
Which even mortals find
They come in night and silence,
Each chill reproachful wraith,
When hope is faint and flagging,
And a blight has dropped on faith.
For life is all too short, dear.
And sorrow is all too great,
To suffer our slow compassion
That tarries until too late.
And it's not the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bitter heartache,
At the setting of the sun.
--Adelaide Proctor
Give what you have; to someone it may be better than you dare to think. --Longfellow
Streams in the DesertSee More
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Christ Was Delivered for Us
Let us consider the thought for a moment in connection with Christ. Don't you see how it all comes to its climax, how God delivered His strength into captivity when He gave His only-be-gotten Son for you and me? He had done it before in regard to His sovereign will when He created free beings--He had done it because He was love. And then, in His own way, He... did it to its utmost when He gave the Lord--He did it because He was love. "God so loved the world that He gave"---delivered Him to the captivity of the virgin's womb, delivered Him to the captivity of the body that had been prepared for Him so that the Lord emptied Himself and took on Him the form of a servant. Did you ever think how often the word "delivered" is used of the Lord Jesus Christ? "He was delivered to the high priest." "Pilate released Barabbas and delivered Jesus." "He was delivered by the counsel and foreknowledge of God." But most beautiful of all: "He was delivered for our offenses." Christ was the strength of God, and God delivered His strength into captivity. The marvelous and beautiful thing is just this, that by that deliverance you and I are saved.
George H. Morrison
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"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Colossians 3:1
How many there are even of those who desire to fear God who are kept down by the world, and to whom it has not lost its attractive power; who are held fast, at least for a time, by worldly business, or entangled by worldly persons or worldly engagements.... Their partners in business or their partners in life; their carnal relatives or their worldly children; their numerous connections or their social habits; their strong passions or their deep-rooted prejudices, all bind and fetter them down to earth. There they grovel and lie amid, what Milton terms,
"The smoke and stir of this dim spot which men call earth;"
and so bound are they with the cords of their sins that they scarcely seek deliverance from them, or even desire to rise beyond the mists and fogs of this dim spot into a purer air, so as to breathe a heavenly atmosphere, and rise up with Jesus from the grave of their corruptions. But if, as members of his mystical body, they are already risen with Christ, as it was not possible for the Head to be holden of death when God loosed the pains thereof (Acts 2:24), so neither shall they ever be buried in the grave of carnality and worldliness. They must rise spiritually if they rose mystically. If interested in the reality of Christ's resurrection, they must know the power of Christ's resurrection.
J. C. Philpot
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SALVATION IS REGENERATION
2 Peter 1:4
He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature
What does the Bible specifically say about our nature? The Greek word for nature is used in this way only twice in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:1-3 described the nature we all shared before we came to Christ: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath." What was your basic nature before you were born again spiritually? You and every other Christian "were by nature children of wrath," dead in sin, subject to Satan's power, living completely to fulfill sinful lusts and desires. This is the condition of every unbeliever today.
The second occurrence of the word is in 2 Peter 1:4 describing our nature after we came to Christ: "He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature."
When you came into spiritual union with God through your new birth, you didn't add a new, divine nature to your old, sinful nature. You exchanged natures. Salvation isn't just a matter of God forgiving your sins and issuing you a pass to heaven when you die. Salvation is regeneration. God changed you from darkness to light, from sinner to saint. There is a newness about you that wasn't there before. If God hadn't changed your identity at salvation, you would be stuck with your old identity until you died. How could you expect to grow to maturity if you didn't start as a transformed child of God? Becoming a partaker of God's nature is fundamental to a Christian's identity and maturity.
We are no longer in Adam; we are in Christ. We can still choose to walk according to the flesh, but why should we want to? "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Romans 8:9).
Prayer: Lord, may my understanding of who I am in Christ grow today so that I may walk in the victorious life You secured for me.
Neil T. Anderson
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He Freely Gives
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
If this is not a promise in form, it is in fact. Indeed, it is more than one promise, it is a conglomerate of promises. It is a mass of rubies, and emeralds, and diamonds, with a nugget of gold for their setting. It is a question which can ...never be answered so as to cause us any anxiety of heart. What can the LORD deny us after giving us Jesus? If we need all things in heaven and earth, He will grant them to us: for if there had been a limit anywhere, He would have kept back His own Son.
What do I want today? I have only to ask for it. I may seek earnestly, but not as if I had to use pressure and extort an unwilling gift from the LORD's hand; for He will give freely. Of His own He gave us His own Son. Certainly no one would have proposed such a gift to Him. No one would have ventured to ask for it. It would have been too presumptuous. He freely gave His Only-begotten, and, O my soul, canst thou not trust thy heavenly Father to give thee anything, to give thee everything? Thy poor prayer would have no force with Omnipotence if force were needed; but His love, like a spring, rises of itself and overflows for the supply of all thy needs.
Charles Spurgeon
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Study God's Word; Hear God's Voice
by Joyce Meyer
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. —2 Timothy 2:15
Anyone who wants to hear God’s voice must be a student of the Word. Of all the other ways God may choose to speak to us, He will never contradict the written Word, which was originally referred to by the Greek word logos.
His spoken word in the Greek language is referred to as rhema. God specifically brings to our remembrance His logos for every situation. His rhema (spoken word to us) may not be found word for word on the pages of the Bible, but its principles will always be supported by the written Word. In this way, the Bible confirms whether or not what we are hearing is from God.
For example, the logos, the written Word, doesn’t tell us when to buy a new car or what kind to buy. We need the rhema word for that. Even though the Word doesn’t give specific instructions on buying a car, it does say a lot about wisdom.
If we think we have “heard” that we are supposed to buy a certain kind of car and then realize such a large purchase would put us into deep debt for several years, we can easily see that buying that car would not be wise and the voice we thought we heard was not God’s.
God’s word for you today: Logos + rhema = wisdom.
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2/02/2012
You Have Today
By Max Lucado
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Psalm 90:14
You can’t spend tomorrow’s money, celebrate tomorrow’s achievements—or resolve tomorrow’s riddles.
You have today!
Paul rejoiced in prison. David wrote Psalms in the wilderness.
Paul and Silas sang in jail. And Jesus prayed in the garden of pain.
Suppose—you choose not to work or worry your day away, but decide to give it a fair shake.
You trust more. Stress less.
Amplify gratitude. Mute the grumbling.
And what do you know? Before long the day is done and—surprisingly decent.
It’s what I call a day changer! So you resolve to do the same the next day and the next.
Days become weeks. Weeks become months. Months become years of good days.
It’s the way good lives are built. One good day at a time!
“This is the day the Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!”
Have a great day—every day!
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"And whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. xx. 26, 27).
Slave is the literal meaning of the word, doulos.
The first word used for service is diakanos, which means a minister to others in any usual way or work: but the word doulos means a bond slave, and the Lord here plainly teaches us that the highest service is that of a bond slave.
He Himself made Himself the servant of all, and he who would come nearest to Him and stand closest to Him at last, must likewise learn the spirit of the ministry that has utterly renounced selfish rights and claims forever.
It is quite possible to be entirely loyal to the Lord Jesus, and yet for Jesus' sake, a servant ourselves, and under the authority of those who are over us in the Lord.
The doulos spirit is the spirit of self-renunciation and glad submission to proper authority, service utterly disinterested, yielding our own preferences and interests unreservedly for the glory of the Master and the sake of our brethren. Lord, clothe us with humility and make us wholly Thine.
A. B. Simpson
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Our Great Opportunities
"Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the day of trouble?" (Job 38:22-23).
Our trials are great opportunities. Too often we look on them as great obstacles. It would be a haven of rest and an inspiration of unspeakable power if each of us would henceforth recognize every difficult situation as one of God's chosen ...ways of proving to us His love and look around for the signals of His glorious manifestations; then, indeed, would every cloud become a rainbow, and every mountain a path of ascension and a scene of transfiguration.
If we will look back upon the past, many of us will find that the very time our Heavenly Father has chosen to do the kindest things for us, and given us the richest blessings, has been the time we were strained and shut in on every side. God's jewels are often sent us in rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very treasures of the King's palace and the Bridegroom's love. --A. B. Simpson
Trust Him in the dark, honor Him with unwavering confidence even in the midst of mysterious dispensations, and the recompense of such faith will be like the moulting of the eagle's plumes, which was said to give them a new lease of youth and strength. J. R. Macduff
"If we could see beyond today
As God can see;
If all the clouds should roll away,
The shadows flee;
O'er present griefs we would not fret.
Each sorrow we would soon forget,
For many joys are waiting yet
For you and me.
"If we could know beyond today
As God doth know,
Why dearest treasures pass away
And tears must flow;
And why the darkness leads to light,
Why dreary paths will soon grow bright;
Some day life's wrongs will be made right,
Faith tells us so.
"'If we could see, if we could know,'
We often say,
But God in love a veil doth throw
Across our way;
We cannot see what lies before,
And so we cling to Him the more,
He leads us till this life is o'er;
Trust and obey."
Streams in the Desert
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I will lead on softly, Until I come unto my lord unto Seir. Genesis 33:14
This was rather unworthy of the man who, the night before, had seen the face of God, and learned to prevail. The man who had seen God, and prevailed, was doubtful of His newly-given blessing! He did not realize that it would carry him through the difficulty that threatened him. tie had not as yet learned to appl...y it to every emergency. It is a solemn lesson to those who have passed through some rapturous experience.
After blessing, often trial. - When the fair colors have been laid on, the vessel is plunged into the furnace, that they may be burned in.
The trial frequently presents itself in the home or ordinary life. - Some are led into the wilderness to be tempted; but more often it is the contact with our Esaus that furnishes us with the supreme test of the worth of what we have received.
Failure comes from not reckoning on God. - Jacob looked at Esau's four hundred armed men, and compared his own following with despair. So Peter looked at the winds and waves. At such times we must fail, if we rely on schemes or plans, instead of saying, God is.
Oh for the peace that floweth as a river.
Making life's desert places bloom anti smile;
Oh for the faith to grasp Heaven's bright "forever"
And the shadow of earth's "little while."
We must act faith. - If Jacob had refused to use this subterfuge, and had spoken simply and manfully, he would have found that Esau would have acquiesced and left him. The angels who had gone forward to deal with him (Genesis 32:2) had done their work effectively, and God had changed his purpose.
F. B. Meyer
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"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." 1 John 2:27
Have you ever had a solitary drop of this holy anointing oil fall upon your heart? One drop, if it be but a drop, will sanctify yo...u for ever to the service of God. There was not much of the holy anointing oil used for the service of the tabernacle, when we consider the size and quantity of what had to be consecrated, for Moses had to anoint therewith the whole of the tabernacle of the congregation, as well as all the vessels, with all their various appurtenances. When he went through the sacred work, he touched one vessel after another with a drop of oil; for one drop sanctified the vessel to the service of the tabernacle. There was no repetition of the consecration wanted; it abode. So if you ever had a drop of God's love shed abroad in your heart,--a drop of the anointing to teach you the truth as it is in Jesus; a drop to penetrate, to soften, to heal, to feed and give light, life, and power to your soul,--you have the unction from the Holy One; you know all things which are for your salvation, and by that same holy oil you have been sanctified and made meet for an eternal inheritance.
J. C. Philpot
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A RADICAL, INNER TRANSFORMATION
1 Corinthians 15:10
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain
If you believe that you are part light and part darkness, part saint and part sinner, you will live in a very mediocre manner with little to distinguish you from the non-Christian. You may confess your proneness to sin and strive to do better, but you will live a continually defeated life because you perceive yourself to be only a sinner saved by grace who is hanging on until the rapture. Satan knows he can do nothing about who you really are, but if he can get you to believe you are no different from the natural person, then you will behave no differently from the natural person.
Why does this profile describe so many Christians? Because we are ignorant of our true identity in Christ. God's work of atonement in changing sinners to saints is His greatest accomplishment on earth. The inner change, justification, is effected at the moment of salvation. The outer change in the believer's daily walk, sanctification, continues throughout life. But the progressive work of sanctification is only fully effective when the radical, inner transformation of justification is realized and appropriated by faith.
"But didn't I read somewhere that Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners?" you may wonder. Yes, but he was referring to his nature before his conversion to Christ (1 Timothy 1:12-16). He made a similar statement of self-depreciation in 1 Corinthians 15:9, but continued by saying: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain" (verse 10). Paul knew that who he was before Christ and who he became in Christ were two separate identities.
If you claim to be just a sinner, what will you do? You will sin! You are professing that sin is at the core of your identity. That's not what the Bible teaches. Why don't we just believe God that Jesus is at the core of our being and then begin to live like it by His Spirit?
Neil T. Andeerson
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Grow Up
"And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall" (Malachi 4:2).
Yes, when the sun shines, the sick quit their chambers and walk abroad to breathe the fresh air. When the sun brings spring and summer, the cattle quit their stalls and seek pasture on the higher Alps. Even thus, when we have conscious fellowship with our LORD, we leave the stall of despondency and walk abroad i...n the fields of holy confidence. We ascend to the mountains of joy and feed on sweet pasturage which grows nearer heaven than the provender of carnal men.
To "go forth" and to "grow up" is a double promise. O my soul, be thou eager to enjoy both blessings! Why shouldst thou be a prisoner? Arise, and walk at liberty. Jesus saith that His sheep shall go in and out and find pasture; go forth, then, and feed in the rich meadows of boundless love.
Why remain a babe in grace? Grow up. Young calves grow fast, especially if they are stall fed; and thou hast the choice care of thy Redeemer. Grow, then, in grace and in knowledge of thy LORD and Savior, Be neither straitened nor stunted. The Sun of Righteousness has risen upon thee Answer to His beams as the buds to the natural sun. Open thine heart; expand and grow up into Him in all things.
Charles Spurgeon
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Receiving Forgiveness
by Joyce Meyer
If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action]. —1 John 1:9
Many years ago when I was first developing my relationship with the Lord, each night I would beg His forgiveness for my past sins. One evening as I knelt beside my bed, I heard the Lord say to me, "Joyce, I forgave you the first time you asked, but you have not received My gift of forgiveness because you have not forgiven yourself."
Have you received God's gift of forgiveness? If you have not, and you are ready to do so, ask the Lord to forgive you for all your sins right now. Then pray this aloud:
Lord, I receive forgiveness for (name the sin), in Christ Jesus. I forgive myself and accept your gift of forgiveness as my own. I believe that you remove the sin from me completely, putting it at a distance where it can never be found again—as far as the east is from the west. And I believe. Lord, that you remember it no more.
You will find that speaking aloud is often helpful to you because by doing so you are declaring your stand upon God's Word. The devil cannot read your mind but he does understand your words. Declare before all the principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12) that Christ has set you free and that you intend to walk in that freedom.
When you speak, sound as though you mean it! If the devil tries to bring that sin to your mind again in the form of guilt and condemnation, repeat your declaration, telling him: "I was forgiven for that sin! It has been taken care of—therefore, I take no care for it."
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2/01/2012
Imagine the Difference
By Max Lucado
This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24
I leaned back into my beach chair, interlaced my fingers behind my head, and closed my eyes. That’s when it happened.
No warning. Just bombs away! PLOP!
I looked up just in time to see a seagull giving high feathers to his buddies on the beach!
Count on it—into each day a bird will plop! Traffic will snarl. Friends will forget. Spouses will complain.
Who has a good day on these days? Most don’t—but couldn’t we try?
“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
This day? Rejoice in it? God invites us to!
Could we rejoice smack dab in the midst of this day? Imagine the difference if we could. How’s that for a day changer?
Have a Great Day—Every Day!
And while you’re at it—keep an eye on the seagull with the silly grin!
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"A well of water springing up" (John iv. 14).
In the life overflowing in service for others, we find the deep fountain of life running over the spring and finding vent in rivers of living water that go out to bless and save the world around us. It is beautiful to notice that as the blessing grows unselfish it grows larger. The water in the heart is only a well, but when reaching out ...to the needs of others it is not only a river, but a delta of many rivers overflowing in majestic blessing. This overflowing love is connected with the Person and work of the Holy Spirit which was to be poured out upon the disciples after Jesus was glorified.
This is the true secret of power for service, the heart filled and satisfied with Jesus, and so baptized with the Holy Ghost that it is impelled by the fulness of its joy and love to impart to others what it has so abundantly received; and yet each new ministry only makes room for a new filling and a deeper receiving of the life which grows by giving.
Letting go is twice possessing,
Would you double every blessing,
Pass it on.
A. B. Simpson
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The Fruit Comes Afterward
"The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm" (Nahum 1:3).
I recollect, when a lad, and while attending a classical institute in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant, sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It ...seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.
But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, "Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?" the grass would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the daisy would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, "Part of the storm is incandescent in me."
Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the "afterward." --Henry Ward Beecher
The flowers live by the tears that fall From the sad face of the skies; And life would have no joys at all, Were there no watery eyes. Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring Its own excuse in after years; The rainbow!--see how fair a thing God hath built up from tears. --Henry S. Sutton
Streams in the Desert
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Our greatest victories are wrought out through pain, and purchased at the cost of the humbling of the flesh. Jacob learned that the secret of prevailing with God and man was not in the strength, but in the weakness and suffering of the flesh. It must ever be so. The victor Lamb bears still the scars of Calvary, and appears as one who had been slain.
F. B. Meyer
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"They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them."--Jeremiah 31:9
Until God is pleased to pour out upon us the spirit of grace and of supplications, we cannot worship him aright; for God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth; nor can we without this spirit offer up that spiritual sacrifice which is acceptable to him throu...gh Jesus Christ. When this spirit has been once given and kindled in a believer's breast, it never dies out. It is like the fire upon the brazen altar, which was first given by the Lord himself from heaven, and concerning which God gave this command: "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out" (Lev. 6:13). This fire might sink low; it might be covered with the ashes of sacrifice, but it never was suffered to go out for want of supply of fuel. So at times it may seem to you as if there were scarcely any spirit of prayer alive in your bosom; and you may feel as destitute of a spirit of grace and of supplications as if you had never known its lively movements and actings. But you will find it drawn out from time to time by circumstances. You will be placed under peculiar trials, under which you will find no relief but at a throne of grace; or God will in tender mercy breathe again upon your soul with his own gracious Spirit, and by his quickening breath will revive, I will not say kindle, for it is not gone out, that holy fire which seemed to be buried under the ashes of corruption, that inward spirit of prayer which he gave you at regeneration, and which will never cease till it issue in everlasting praise.
J. C. Philpot
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OUR TRANSFER
Colossians 1:13
He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son
Perhaps you have heard the illustration of the two dogs. Some people say that we have two natures within us vying for control of our lives. They claim that our old sin nature, which we inherited from disobedient Adam, is like a big black dog. Our new nature, which we inherited through Christ's redemptive work, is like a big white dog. These two dogs are bitter enemies, intent on destroying each other. Whenever you involve yourself in worldly thoughts or behavior, you are feeding the black dog. Whenever you focus your mind and activities on spiritual things, you are feeding the white dog. The dog you feed the most will eventually grow stronger and overpower the other.
This dramatic illustration may motivate Christians toward saintly behavior, but is it accurate based on who we really are in Christ? Since God "delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13), can we still be in both kingdoms? When God declares that we are "not in the flesh but in the Spirit" (Romans 8:9), can we be in the flesh and in the Spirit simultaneously? When God says that "you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8), can you possibly be both light and darkness? When God states that "if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17), can we be partly new creature and partly old creature?
But be careful. Can a Christian sin? Of course! "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). But having sin and being sin are two completely different issues. When we choose to walk by the flesh we will sin, but, as 1 John 2:1 reminds us, we don't have to: "My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin."
Neil T. Anderson
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Never Despair
"But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun Of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Malachi 4.2).
Fulfilled once in the first advent of our glorious LORD, and yet to have a fuller accomplishment in His second advent, this gracious word is also for daily use. Is it dark with the reader? Does the night deepen into a denser blackness? Still let us not despair: the sun w...ill yet rise. When the night is darkest, dawn is nearest.
The sun which will arise is of no common sort. It is the Sun -- the Sun of Righteousness, whose every ray is holiness. He who comes to cheer us, comes in the way of justice as well as of mercy, comes to violate no law even to save us. Jesus as much displays the holiness of God as His love. Our deliverance, when it comes, will be safe because righteous.
Our one point of inquiry should be -- "Do we fear the name of the LORD? Do we reverence the living God and walk in His ways?" Then for us the night must be short; and when the morning cometh, all the sickness and sorrow of our soul will be over forever. Light, warmth, joy, and clearness of vision will come, and healing of every disease and distress will follow after.
Has Jesus risen upon us? Let us sit in the sun. Has He hidden His face? Let us wait for His rising. He will shine forth as surely as the sun.
Charles Spurgeon
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Evil Forebodings
by Joyce Meyer
All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]. —Proverbs 15:15
Shortly after I began to seriously study the Bible, I felt an oppressive atmosphere around me. Everything seemed gloomy—as if something bad was going to happen. It wasn’t anything I could explain, just a vague, dreaded sense of something evil or wrong about to happen.
“Oh, God,” I prayed. “What’s going on? What is this feeling?”
I had hardly uttered the question when God spoke to me. “Evil forebodings.”
I had to meditate on that for several minutes. I had never heard the phrase before. God had spoken to me, and I stayed quiet before Him so I could hear the answers.
I realized, first of all, that my anxieties weren’t real—that is, they were not based on true circumstances or situations. I was having problems—as most of us do—but they were not as critical as the devil was making it appear.
My acceptance of his lies, even though they were vague, was opening the door for the evil forebodings. I eventually realized that I had lived in the midst of similar gloomy feelings most of my life. I was expecting something bad to happen instead of aggressively expecting something good. I felt a dread, an unexplained anxiety around me. I couldn’t put my finger on anything specific—only that sense of something evil or terrible.
The Living Bible says, “When a man is gloomy, everything seems to go wrong.” That’s how I felt, as if something—maybe everything—was wrong or was about to go wrong.
As previously stated, I realized that for most of my life, I had been miserable because of evil thoughts and anxious forebodings.
As I continued to meditate on evil forebodings, God broke through and gave me a clear revelation. I was miserable because my thoughts were miserable—my thoughts were poisoning my outlook. My thoughts robbed me of the ability to enjoy my life. I should have been saying, “Thank You, God, for today. Thank you for Dave and my children and my friends and all Your blessings.” But, instead of being positive, I found myself even dreading to answer the phone when it rang, for fear it might be bad news.
All of this gloom and doom that surrounded me began in my abusive childhood. I endured a great deal of misery, and most of my life was unhappy and filled with disappointments. I began to live in a vague fear and dread of the future. I had not been taught to let go of what was behind. I couldn’t rejoice in what I had now and the good things going on in my life. I focused on the past and what might lie ahead—and what lay ahead was usually gloom and doom and chaos because that was what I was expecting. Satan had built a stronghold in my mind, and I was trapped until I learned I could tear down that negative, evil stronghold by applying God’s Word to my life and circumstances.
I once had a friend whom I’ll call Marlene. She lived in a state of constant chaos. One day she had health problems. The next day Marlene’s son had lost his job, and they were going to have to support him and his family.
As soon as that was over, another traumatic situation would erupt. Marlene was a Christian, but she lived in fear of bad news. Marlene would not have known how to live a life that was not filled with chaos. All of her conversation was negative and gloomy. Even her countenance was sad and gloomy.
I realized that I had started to become like Marlene—I was miserable because I had allowed Satan to rob me of the ability to enjoy my life. It took a while before I was able to be positive most of the time, but little by little, my thinking changed, and so did my life. I no longer live in evil forebodings, expecting to hear at any moment of a new problem.
Now I purposely expect good things to happen in my life. I realize now that I can choose my thoughts. I don’t have to accept Satan’s lies.
Like everyone else, negative things do happen to me from time to time, but I don’t become negative because of them. I remain positive, and that helps me enjoy my life even in the midst of the storms.
Dear Lord Jesus, through so many days in my life, I have been robbed of my joy and contentment by evil forebodings. As those feelings come to me, please remind me that You are in control. Help me to rest in You and rejoice in Your power in my life. Amen.
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