The Forgiveness of God

"In whom we have . . . the forgiveness of sins." Ephesians 1:7 Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God - God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favour is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made ours. Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace; it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive sin and remain a holy God. Never accept a view of the Fatherhood of God if it blots out the Atonement. The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God by the Atonement. God's forgiveness is only natural in the supernatural domain. Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight. Sanctification is simply the marvellous expression of the forgiveness of sins in a human life, but the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin. Paul never got away from this. When once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained by the love of God.

Do You Continue to Go With Jesus?

"Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations." Luke 22:28

It is true that Jesus Christ is with us in our temptations, but are we going with Him in His temptations? Many of us cease to go with Jesus from the moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God shifts your circumstances, and see whether you are going with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh and the devil. We wear His badge, but are we going with Him? "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him."

The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going with Jesus in the life we are living now?

We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings round us. Never! God engineers circumstances and whatever they may be like we have to see that we face them while abiding continually with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. The honour of Jesus Christ is at stake in your bodily life. Are you remaining loyal to the Son of God in the things which beset His life in you?

Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate, outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice, "Follow Me."

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Praising the Lord!

"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

Psalms 126:3

Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad." Such an abstract of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought us "out into a wealthy place." The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life's song, "He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon

Do Right!!!

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said . . . Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods." 
--Daniel 3:16, 18

The narrative of the manly courage and marvellous deliverance of the three holy children, or rather champions, is well calculated to excite in the minds of believers firmness and steadfastness in upholding the truth in the teeth of tyranny and in the very jaws of death. Let young Christians especially learn from their example, both in matters of faith in religion, and matters of uprightness in business, never to sacrifice their consciences. Lose all rather than lose your integrity, and when all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. Be not guided by the will-o'-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority. Follow the right at all hazards. When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honour to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle. See whether He will be your debtor! See if He doth not even in this life prove His word that "Godliness, with contentment, is great gain," and that they who "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, shall have all these things added unto them." Should it happen that, in the providence of God, you are a loser by conscience, you shall find that if the Lord pays you not back in the silver of earthly prosperity, He will discharge His promise in the gold of spiritual joy. Remember that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of that which he possesseth. To wear a guileless spirit, to have a heart void of offence, to have the favour and smile of God, is greater riches than the mines of Ophir could yield, or the traffic of Tyre could win. "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and inward contention therewith." An ounce of heart's-ease is worth a ton of gold.

Morning and Evening (June 24 PM), C. H. Spurgeon

The Blood

I woke up this morning with some interesting thoughts. Actually, I wasn’t even fully awake when I was having them. Once I was fully awake I found myself wondering if they were a part of my dream or if I had really been thinking them with a fully-conscious mind. Strange, but then, if you knew the kind of things I’ve been dreaming lately, it may not seem so odd. It’s so true what Ecclesiastes 5:3 says. “A dream cometh through the multitude of business.” For the last couple of weeks my dreams have been a strange mixture of imagined circumstances stemming from subconscious fears I didn’t even know existed and the disturbing realities of life. Waking up is quite interesting when I have to sort out what is true from what seemed so real that I thought it was true. Sometimes I think it might be less exhausting to not dream at all. I don’t know how it is with you, but when something is bothering me it is the very first thing to hit me when I wake up. It’s like getting slammed full-force in the face with a baseball bat. I think a physical blow might be more bearable than the emotional knockout.

Some of you already know about little 2-year-old Silas Blackburn. He is the youngest of 8 children belonging to Bro. Nick and Mrs. Karen Blackburn, who are on deputation preparing to go to the Congo as missionaries. Just about two weeks ago they found out that little Silas has an aggressive form of cancer and has a 25% chance of survival. Humanly speaking it seems impossible that the little guy will live…BUT GOD… Is anything too hard for God?

For more information and regular updates you can visit these links:
Mrs. Karen’s blog (mother of Silas): http://www.kdforthecongo.blogspot.com/
Mrs. Kim’s blog (member of Truth Baptist Church): http://www.cherishedheritage.blogspot.com/

The thoughts that triggered this post stem mainly from this shocking situation with little Silas. The Bible tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), which, of course, is a scientifically and medically proven fact. The doctors suggested a blood transfusion so Silas could grow stronger and have a better chance to fight against this disease. Bro. Buddy, who is the Blackburns’ pastor, and his three boys, among several others from the church, have given their blood for Silas. After giving his blood, Bro. Buddy preached a message on the blood, comparing the amazing make-up of human blood to the astounding sin-cleansing power of Christ’s blood. It was great preaching! This past Sunday Bro. Buddy sadly mentioned that his blood had somehow not been used within the amount of time that it would have still been considered “good.” It had expired and gone to waste. I felt so sad when I heard that, and I could tell Bro. Buddy was sad too. And this it what caused me to think about the things I want to share with you.

About 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the pure and sinless Son of God, allowed himself to be sacrificed as the spotless Lamb. He allowed Himself to be falsely accused, degradingly spit upon, cruelly mocked, beaten beyond recognition, and then nailed with spikes to a rough, splintered cross. His suffering was immeasurable. Never had anyone endured the agony that Christ willingly bore on that cross. Not only was His earthly body wracked with excruciating pain, but His mind and soul were tormented as well. As His life’s blood flowed in streams from that old rugged cross, the face of each and every person that had ever been born or would be born, passed by Him. He saw my face. Your face flashed before Him. And every sin that had been committed or ever would be committed by the entire human race was placed in His body. Jesus took upon Himself the sin of the whole world. Think about how guilty and miserable you feel when you know you have done wrong. Perhaps there was a time when sin built up in your life until you felt crushed under the burden of guilt. Multiply every sin you ever committed and its guilt feelings, times the sin of a person’s lifetime, times the lifetimes of all the human population that had ever been born and was to be born. Don’t you think that would be enough weight to crush the soul? This emotional turmoil was added to the physical torture Jesus Christ endured on the cross. The One who knew no sin and was incapable of sinning suddenly had the sin of the whole world thrust upon Him. Willingly, He accepted our sins into His body. He took my place and your place on that cross and died so that we wouldn’t have to be thrown into Hell--the punishment for our sins. Jesus paid a debt we could never pay! Christ won a victory that we could never win! GLORY to GOD!

Similar to little Silas, I had contaminated blood. I was sick with sin. But Jesus Christ gave me a “blood transfusion,” taking my polluted blood and giving me His sinless blood. That thought renders me speechless. When I was sick in my sin, Christ offered me a gift no one else could ever offer. He gave me the gift of salvation--eternal life--purchased with His blood. You know, this morning I was thinking about Bro. Buddy. He gave his blood for Silas, but it was carelessly misplaced and wasted. I thought how sad Bro. Buddy must have been when he discovered that the blood he had gladly offered to save Silas was apparently taken for granted. Blood is blood! Bro. Buddy sacrificed some of his essential life’s fluids. That’s no small thing! In a similar way, Jesus Christ gladly offered to give us His blood to save us from dying and spending an eternity in Hell. Some have heard the glorious tidings of Christ’s love and accepted this blood gift for their salvation. These have eternal life. Others have been made aware of their sinful, dying condition. Their response has been to uncaringly refused the life-giving blood offered to them. These have rejected Jesus Christ’s gift. If Bro. Buddy felt sad that his blood had been wasted, how much more must Christ sorrow as His blood is treated with careless disrespect and utter distain? Those who reject Jesus Christ might as well be pouring out His blood in a puddle in the dirt. God will surely judge those who so casually spill the precious blood His Son shed so that they might live. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23

Then I got to thinking about those who have given Silas blood. I know there are many people who are praying and hoping beyond hope that he will come through this. His family and friends are affected by this, but think about those who have given some of their blood to Silas. They have put something that was personal and highly valuable into that little boy. Surely, they have taken a special interest in his condition and are more adamant than ever that he should live. I hear my dad’s words playing in my mind. “He has to live! That little boy just HAS to live!!!” My dad has prayed, but he has not even given his blood, and he feels so strongly that little Silas has to pull through this. Imagine how those who have given their blood must feel! Now think about it in this light. When God looks at us, he sees the blood of Jesus Christ flowing through our “veins,” as it were. Anyone who has received Christ as their Saviour has had a spiritual blood transfusion. That bad blood is gone. The pure, spotless blood of Jesus has replaced it! As Christians, the purifying blood and healing work of Christ should be evident in our lives. We are no longer sick with sin, so why would we act as though we are? What must God think when He sees a Christian who has returned to the world like a dog to its vomit? Why would anyone choose to be sick once they have experienced how truly wonderful the blood’s healing is? Those who have given their blood to Silas are rooting for him to LIVE! They have sacrificed something for that little boy, therefore his life has become extra precious to them. In the same way, Jesus sacrificed His blood for each and every Christian, and our lives have become extra precious to Him. Jesus has invested His blood into our lives. He wants to see us LIVE and not die spiritually! Little Silas can’t choose between living or dying, but YOU can, Christian! It is in your power to determine whether you are going to live to be a victorious Christian or if you are going to be a lazy, good-for-nothing, dead Christian. You have the choice! You have to recognize the fact that you OWE it to Christ to live for Him. He invested His life’s blood into the healing of your soul. Can you hear His voice almost pleading, as a mother bent over the crib of her sick baby? “You HAVE to live! You have to LIVE!!!” To choose to die would be to say that Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t sufficient. His blood wasn’t powerful enough. What He had to offer was below your standard of acceptable. Would you dare? Would you dare to slap His face?
Are you going to live? The choice is yours.

Those are just some thoughts about the greatest Blood Donor this world has ever known. Now I’d like to talk to those who have benefited from blood and also those who have been called and volunteered to donate their blood unconditionally to the cause of Christ.

You know, we often refer to our church as a hospital. We attract many sick people with many varying sicknesses. Those who are wise continue to come to the “hospital” for their weekly treatments, insuring their health with regular doses of “medication”--preaching and fellowship. The pastor, his family, the deacons, the teachers, those who do odd jobs and cleaning--these are the blood donors, the doctors and nurses in the “hospital.” There are many others who are working in the “medical service.” Missionaries and evangelists are just a few who cross the country or move to foreign fields, exhausting their life’s supply of blood for the livelihood of others. Have you ever thought to thank those who have invested their life’s “blood”--money, time and energy--on your behalf? No man lives on an island. There has to be somebody who has touched your life in such a way that you were never the same afterwards. Have you shown your appreciation to that person? Out of ten people, only one leper thought to return and thank Jesus for His healing touch. Perhaps you could make it your objective to be that one leper. Perhaps you could be the one to revive your “blood donor” so he/she has the energy to continue pouring out service to others. “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.” (Proverbs 12:25) It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Just whisper a meaningful “thank you.” You may be surprised to see tears of joy for the quiet acknowledgement on your part. What a better world this would be if more people would only show a little gratitude!

Growing up in the ministry, I know just how draining and utterly exhausting it can be to be pouring out “blood”--time, money, energy, sacrificed dreams, etc., etc.--into people who don’t seem to care. If you’re in the ministry you know what I mean. Sometimes you just get downright sick of it (no pun intended). How many times have you found yourself silently asking this question: “Is it really worth it?” You’re on a lonely mission field, with family and friends 6,000 or more miles away without the faintest notion of how terribly alone you are. Their own lives continue on as usual, meanwhile you feel as if yours will never be the same. They could never fully understand what you are going through. You’re traveling the road constantly, going from church to church. You have a “home church,” but you don’t feel truly at home anywhere. The once or twice a year that you stop in, you have to introduce yourself as if appearing for the first time. You see new faces, meet new people, but there are few lasting relationships of any value. You long for the secure feeling of “belonging” somewhere…anywhere. You’re ministering to a church where the people are cold and dead and have no desire for God’s Word. You feel that your work is in vain as people fill the pews of a cold church building and that’s where they stay. No volunteers for extra ministries. Nobody wants to teach Sunday school or watch crying babies or go door-to-door or stand for Christ publicly. You wonder if there are really people with beating hearts inside those human shells. Do they have ears? Does the preaching register? Perhaps it might be more profitable to preach to a brick wall. As the pastor’s family you feel like the weight of the entire church ministry is not equally distributed but is divided, instead, on the shoulders of a few 3 or 4 people. You feel like you are pulling and pushing people to cooperate instead of everyone helping along, pitching in happily. Going to church becomes merely a habit, all joy lost, for nobody else is joyfully entering the house of God. You try to be cheerful, but after a while your tiny flickering coal loses its warmth. Going to church is a drudgery. If only others would participate and get excited…like when a game is on or ice cream and cake are being served. And you ask yourself this question: “Is it really worth it?” All these varying circumstances…all so different and yet the same. You feel imprisoned. Lost in a bubble of time. Trapped in God’s will.

These cases are not pure speculation. I’ve seen this over and over and over. I’ve experienced this personally. You get tired of the ministry? Yup! I never claimed to be perfect! Giving “blood” can be exhausting business…especially when I wonder if anyone cares or is benefiting from it. Is it wrong to want to see a little fruit for our labor? Is it wrong to want people to reACT to the preaching instead of simply warming a chair? No, I don’t think so. And sometimes I find myself frustrated. Sometimes I find myself asking “Is it really worth it? Is it really worth the sacrifice?” By faith I have to believe that it is. God knows that I can think of plenty of other places I’d rather be than here in spiritually dead Holland. God knows I’d like to see souls saved and Christians caring for something other than their own little lives. I sometimes wonder if anybody even cares that we have invested 13 years into the cultivation of this spiritually barren plain. Does anybody care that I would rather have lived in the States, attending a beautiful church building, having lots of friends my own age, and living close to family? People can’t grasp that kind of sacrifice. I couldn’t if I wasn’t in these shoes. And then I have to remind myself that I’m not here for these people. I’m here because God asks me to lend my life to Him. It’s not about ME anymore. My life is supposed to be Christ-centered, God-enthroned. Fellow laborer, are you exhausted from your endless labor? Does it seem that you’ve given the very last drop of your life’s blood for the cause of Christ and the health of those surrounding you? If you have depleted your stores, then return to the cross. Get a glimpse of Calvary! Draw your strength anew from the fresh flowing tide and bathe your soul in the life-giving blood of Christ. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins. Go to it! Refresh your soul, weary one! There is power in the blood of the Lamb!

______________________________________________________

Are You Exhausted Spiritually?

“The everlasting God…fainteth not, neither is weary”

Exhaustion means that the vital forces are worn right out. Spiritual exhaustion never comes through sin but only through service, and whether or not you are exhausted will depend upon where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter ~ “Feed My sheep,” but Him gave him nothing to feed them with. The process of being made broken bread and poured-out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you to the dregs. Be careful that you get your supply, or before long you will be utterly exhausted. Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus direct, they have to draw on it through you; you have to be literally “sucked,” until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and His sheep as well as for Himself.

Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affection. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy of from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say ~ “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that your supply comes from Him. “All my fresh springs shall be in Thee.”

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Out of the Wreck I Rise

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says - "I will be with him in trouble." It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are "more than conquerors in all these things." Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

"Shall tribulation . . . ?" Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may - exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

"Shall anguish . . . ?" - can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

"Shall famine . . . ?" - can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it - the love of God in Christ Jesus. "Out of the wreck I rise" every time.

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

The Habit of Enjoying the Disagreeable

"That life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." 
2 Corinthians 4:10

We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of "myself" apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say - "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.

There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.

Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you.

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

What Do You Want?

"Seekest thou great things for thyself?" Jeremiah 45:5

Are you seeking great things for yourself? Not seeking to be a great one, but seeking great things from God for yourself. God wants you in a closer relationship to Himself than receiving His gifts, He wants you to get to know Him. A great thing is accidental, it comes and goes. God never gives us anything accidental. There is nothing easier than getting into a right relationship with God except when it is not God Whom you want but only what He gives.

If you have only come the length of asking God for things, you have never come to the first strand of abandonment, you have become a Christian from a standpoint of your own. "I did ask God for the Holy Spirit, but He did not give me the rest and the peace I expected." Instantly God puts His finger on the reason--you are not seeking the Lord at all, you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus says--"Ask, and it shall be given you." Ask God for what you want, and you cannot ask if you are not asking for a right thing. When you draw near to God, you cease from asking for things. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him." Then why ask? That you may get to know Him.

Are you seeking great things for yourself? "O Lord, baptize me with the Holy Ghost." If God does not, it is because you are not abandoned enough to Him, there is something you will not do. Are you prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God always ignores the present perfection for the ultimate perfection. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy just now; He is working out His ultimate perfection all the time--"that they may be one even as We are."

My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers

_______________________________________________

I read this devotional passage yesterday morning, and the Lord really convicted my heart. I don’t know about you all, but I know I’m guilty of wanting things from God, but not desiring HIM as I should.

I’ve been reading in Acts, as well as other books of the Bible, and I was reminded of Simon the sorcerer, who was enchanted, not with the GOD of gifts and miracles, but with the gifts and miracles that God could give. (See Acts 8:9-24) He sought to obtain the power of God, but not to know the God of power. Simon was willing to pay off the apostles to be able to do the great things he saw them doing through God’s power. This was Peter’s response: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”

Basically what Peter is saying is this: God cannot be bribed! His gifts cannot be bought or bartered! This mindset reveals a heart that is not right with God. Certainly, God loves to give good things to His children, but we should never see Him merely as a “Santa Claus.” The Lord wants us to love Him for who He is, not what He can give us. Think about it in a personal light. If you were rich and could give out great treasures, would you want people to only be your friends for what you could give them? No! Of course not! You want people to love you for the person you are! This is how we need to be approaching the Lord. He desires for us to know Him intimately. When we truly know Him, then we can receive His good gifts. Lord, teach us to know and love YOU!

Chosen in the Furnace of Affliction

"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10

Comfort thyself, tried believer, with this thought: God saith, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Does not the word come like a soft shower, assuaging the fury of the flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armour, against which the heat hath no power? Let affliction come--God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayst stride in at my door, but God is in the house already, and He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayst intrude, but I have a balsam ready--God has chosen me. Whatever befalls me in this vale of tears, I know that He has "chosen" me. If, believer, thou requirest still greater comfort, remember that you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent chamber of yours, there sitteth by your side One whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when thou knowest it not, He makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smooths thy pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty; but in that lovely house of thine the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor. He loves to come into these desolate places, that He may visit thee. Thy friend sticks closely to thee. Thou canst not see Him, but thou mayst feel the pressure of His hands. Dost thou not hear His voice? Even in the valley of the shadow of death He says, "Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God." Remember that noble speech of Caesar: "Fear not, thou carriest Caesar and all his fortune." Fear not, Christian; Jesus is with thee. In all thy fiery trials, His presence is both thy comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom He has chosen for His own. "Fear not, for I am with thee," is His sure word of promise to His chosen ones in the "furnace of affliction." Wilt thou not, then, take fast hold of Christ, and say--

"Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead,
I'll follow where He goes."

—Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon

Inferior Misgivings About Jesus

"Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with." John 4:11

"I am impressed with the wonder of what God says, but He cannot expect me really to live it out in the details of my life!" When it comes to facing Jesus Christ on His own merits, our attitude is one of pious superiority - Your ideals are high and they impress us, but in touch with actual things, it cannot be done. Each of us thinks about Jesus in this way in some particular. These misgivings about Jesus start from the amused questions put to us when we talk of our transactions with God - Where are you going to get your money from? How are you going to be looked after? Or they start from ourselves when we tell Jesus that our case is a bit too hard for Him. It is all very well to say "Trust in the Lord," but a man must live, and Jesus has nothing to draw with - nothing whereby to give us these things. Beware of the pious fraud in you which says - I have no misgivings about Jesus, only about myself. None of us ever had misgivings about ourselves; we know exactly what we cannot do, but we do have misgivings about Jesus. We are rather hurt at the idea that He can do what we cannot.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I ransack my own person to find out how He will be able to do it. My questions spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, let me bring them to the light and confess them - "Lord, I have had misgivings about Thee, I have not believed in Thy wits apart from my own; I have not believed in Thine almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it."

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

The Devotion of Hearing

"Speak; for Thy servant heareth." ~ 1 Samuel 3:10

Because I have listened definitely to one thing from God, it does not follow that I will listen to everything He says. The way in which I show God that I neither love nor respect Him is by the obtuseness of my heart and mind towards what He says. If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he wants, and Jesus says, "Ye are My friends." Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord's this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not consciously have disobeyed it; but most of us show such disrespect to God that we do not even hear what He says, He might never have spoken.

The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me (John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God, by the devotion of hearing all the time. A lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God's message to me. What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things. It is not that I will not hear God, but I am not devoted in the right place. I am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what He likes but I do not hear Him. The child attitude is always, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." If I have not cultivated this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God's voice at certain times; at other times I am taken up with things -- things which I say I must do, and I become deaf to Him, I am not living the life of a child. Have I heard God's voice today?

My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Debtors to Christ Jesus!

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors." ~ Romans 8:12

As God's creatures, we are all debtors to Him: to obey Him with all our body, and soul, and strength. Having broken His commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to His justice, and we owe to Him a vast amount which we are not able to pay. But of the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God's justice anything, for Christ has paid the debt His people owed; for this reason the believer owes the more to love. I am a debtor to God's grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no debtor to His justice, for He will never accuse me of a debt already paid. Christ said, "It is finished!" and by that He meant, that whatever His people owed was wiped away for ever from the book of remembrance. Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we are debtors to God's justice no longer. But then, because we are not debtors to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and ponder for a moment. What a debtor thou art to divine sovereignty! How much thou owest to His disinterested love, for He gave His own Son that He might die for thee. Consider how much you owe to His forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts He loves you as infinitely as ever. Consider what you owe to His power; how He has raised you from your death in sin; how He has preserved your spiritual life; how He has kept you from falling; and how, though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way. Consider what you owe to His immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be to every attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all thou hast--yield thyself as a living sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service.

Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon

All I can say to that is: PRAISE GOD!!!

Have You Ever Been Alone With God?

"When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples." Mark 4:34

Our Solitude with Him. Jesus does not take us alone and expound things to us all the time; He expounds things to us as we can understand them. Other lives are parables. God is making us spell out our own souls. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We do not know envy when we see it, or laziness, or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that this body has been harbouring before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look in with courage?

We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves, it is the last conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we shall never say - "Oh, I am so unworthy," because we shall know we are, beyond the possibility of stating it. As long as we are not quite sure that we are unworthy, God will keep narrowing us in until He gets us alone. Wherever there is any element of pride or of conceit, Jesus cannot expound a thing. He will take us through the disappointment of a wounded pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. He will reveal inordinate affection - things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. We listen to many things in classes, but they are not an exposition to us yet. They will be when God gets us alone over them.

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Will You Go Out Without Knowing?

"He went out, not knowing whither he went." Hebrews 11:8

Have you been "out" in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do?" You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a "going out," building in confidence on God. "Take no thought for your life, . . . nor yet for your body" - take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you "went out."

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him - what an impertinence worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual "going out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have an ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

The Test of Loyalty

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." Romans 8:28

It is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers circumstances. We take such liberty with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, and that is to our Lord. Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances, and the realization comes that we have been disloyal to Him by not recognizing that He had ordered them; we never saw what He was after, and that particular thing will never be repeated all the days of our life. The test of loyalty always comes just there. If we learn to worship God in the trying circumstances, He will alter them in two seconds when He chooses.

Loyalty to Jesus Christ is the thing that we "stick at" today. We will be loyal to work, to service, to anything, but do not ask us to be loyal to Jesus Christ. Many Christians are intensely impatient of talking about loyalty to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more emphatically by Christian workers than by the world. God is made a machine for blessing men, and Jesus Christ is made a Worker among workers.

The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us - "I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine." God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Wrestling Before God

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God . . . praying always . . . " Ephesians 6:13, 18

You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint (see Genesis 32:24-25). Don’t become a cripple by wrestling with the ways of God, but be someone who wrestles before God with the things of this world, because "we are more than conquerors through Him . . ." (Romans 8:37). Wrestling before God makes an impact in His kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you, and I am not complete in Christ, my prayer accomplishes nothing. But if I am complete in Christ, my prayer brings victory all the time. Prayer is effective only when there is completeness— "take up the whole armor of God . . . ."

Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . ." (Romans 8:28)— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, "Yes, it is the Lord’s will." We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.

My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night before bed, God used a passage by Oswald Chambers (not this one) to speak to my heart. It was just...amazing. God always knows just what we need. The Lord has been dealing with me about some personal things--mainly His will and His purpose, as I seek His direction for my life. Yesterday I finished that post entitled "Mary's Miracle," and as I read the devotional excerpt before bed and read some Bible and prayed and thought, God was using some things in that post, that He wrote through me, to work in my heart. I don't want to go into detail because some things are just too precious. Some things need to remain a secret between me and God.

Well, this morning during our family devotions we were discussing some things having to do with Christians in our church who have lost their zeal to serve God and have fallen back into the world. Dad was telling us how important it is for us to be in the ministry for the long haul, because people will always come and go. We may have to have 300 people come through our church only to have 30 faithful Christians stay and grow. Then Dad pointed out that of the ten lepers, only one returned to thank the Lord. Jesus had a 10% success rate. Should we, being His servants, expect more? Daddy read us this passage (above) by Oswald Chambers, and let me tell you, God spoke!!!

Dad expounded on many things. I'm trying to remember all the good stuff that was talked about. Some people think it was heroic of Jacob to wrestle the angel all night. But Mr. Chambers points out that Jacob's will was conflicting with God's will. He would not yield, and he forced God to put his hip out of joint. If we refuse to yield to God's will, we may force Him to put something in our lives out of joint. Each person in our home has a strong will, and that's a good thing, as long as it is pointed in the right direction. The folks who have left our church are Christians who didn't have a strong will and bent like a limp reed with the heavy winds of the world.

Dad talked about our satisfaction with our spiritual lives. We should never be satisfied with our spiritual state, but always hungering and thirsting after more knowledge of God. A deeper relationship with Him! Last night something happened that sorta opened our eyes to some ways the devil is secretly infiltrating our home. Oh, it wasn't anything out-rightly wicked or corrupt, otherwise we would have recognize it instantaneously. But that is how Satan works. He's sly and sneaky. He desensitizes us slowly, with small doses of evil. We must be vigilant to intercept these plans of wickedness.

Dad pointed out that what happened yesterday was God's permissive will. He allowed something that wasn't necessarily in His perfect will to happen, which enabled us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will. His perfect will was the garbage (and that's where it's going, by the way)! We acted upon the light the Lord showed us, and that is what is important. We need to continually wrestle before God with the things of this world.

And then God's will. We are to wrestle before God, not with God. I guess this is what hit me the hardest, because my own will has been acting up...getting a little stronger lately. I'm not really sure that what is presently my will is God's will. I don't know that my desires are His desires. I don't want to be wrestling with God. It's dangerous. God will cripple me if I try to overpower His will and step beyond His set boundaries. And who am I to strive with God? I need to have discernment to know what is God's permissive will and what is God's perfect will for my life. I don't plan on settling for second best. I want THE BEST. And I need to be open to the fact that the Lord may choose to work in a way that doesn’t meet with my approval. I have two choices. I can wrestle with God, and get myself in trouble, or I can wrestle with the issue before God and show Him that I mean business.

Teach me thy way, O LORD;

I will walk in thy truth:

unite my heart to fear thy name!

Psalm 86:11

Living For Christ; Labouring For Him

"He arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights." 1 Kings 19:8

All the strength supplied to us by our gracious God is meant for service, not for wantonness or boasting. When the prophet Elijah found the cake baked on the coals, and the cruse of water placed at his head, as he lay under the juniper tree, he was no gentleman to be gratified with dainty fare that he might stretch himself at his ease; far otherwise, he was commissioned to go forty days and forty nights in the strength of it, journeying towards Horeb, the mount of God. When the Master invited the disciples to "Come and dine" with Him, after the feast was concluded He said to Peter, "Feed my sheep"; further adding, "Follow me." Even thus it is with us; we eat the bread of heaven, that we may expend our strength in the Master's service. We come to the passover, and eat of the paschal lamb with loins girt, and staff in hand, so as to start off at once when we have satisfied our hunger. Some Christians are for living on Christ, but are not so anxious to live for Christ. Earth should be a preparation for heaven; and heaven is the place where saints feast most and work most. They sit down at the table of our Lord, and they serve Him day and night in His temple. They eat of heavenly food and render perfect service. Believer, in the strength you daily gain from Christ labour for Him. Some of us have yet to learn much concerning the design of our Lord in giving us His grace. We are not to retain the precious grains of truth as the Egyptian mummy held the wheat for ages, without giving it an opportunity to grow: we must sow it and water it. Why does the Lord send down the rain upon the thirsty earth, and give the genial sunshine? Is it not that these may all help the fruits of the earth to yield food for man? Even so the Lord feeds and refreshes our souls that we may afterwards use our renewed strength in the promotion of His glory.


—Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon

Much More Than This

"And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." ~ 2 Chronicles 25:9

A very important question this seemed to be to the king of Judah, and possibly it is of even more weight with the tried and tempted O Christian. To lose money is at no times pleasant, and when principle involves it, the flesh is not always ready to make the sacrifice. "Why lose that which may be so usefully employed? May not the truth itself be bought too dear? What shall we do without it? Remember the children, and our small income!" All these things and a thousand more would tempt the Christian to put forth his hand to unrighteous gain, or stay himself from carrying out his conscientious convictions, when they involve serious loss. All men cannot view these matters in the light of faith; and even with the followers of Jesus, the doctrine of "we must live" has quite sufficient weight.

The Lord is able to give thee much more than this is a very satisfactory answer to the anxious question. Our Father holds the purse-strings, and what we lose for His sake He can repay a thousand-fold. It is ours to obey His will, and we may rest assured that He will provide for us. The Lord will be no man's debtor at the last. Saints know that a grain of heart's-ease is of more value than a ton of gold. He who wraps a threadbare coat about a good conscience has gained a spiritual wealth far more desirable than any he has lost. God's smile and a dungeon are enough for a true heart; His frown and a palace would be hell to a gracious spirit. Let the worst come to the worst, let all the talents go, we have not lost our treasure, for that is above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Meanwhile, even now, the Lord maketh the meek to inherit the earth, and no good thing doth He withhold from them that walk uprightly.

—Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Lord used this passage to speak to my heart last night....to reassure me. God knew I needed it, especially the last paragraph. Boy, there were some things Spurgeon wrote that the Holy Spirit used to pierce my heart. I was reminded, once again, that God is in control. He is Lord! Amen!!!

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." ~ Ephesians 3:20

Don't we serve a GREAT GOD?! =)

Do It With Thy Might

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
~ Ecclesiastes 9:10

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," refers to works that are possible. There are many things which our heart findeth to do which we never shall do. It is well it is in our heart; but if we would be eminently useful, we must not be content with forming schemes in our heart, and talking of them; we must practically carry out "whatsoever our hand findeth to do." One good deed is more worth than a thousand brilliant theories. Let us not wait for large opportunities, or for a different kind of work, but do just the things we "find to do" day by day. We have no other time in which to live. The past is gone; the future has not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present. Then do not wait until your experience has ripened into maturity before you attempt to serve God. Endeavour now to bring forth fruit. Serve God now, but be careful as to the way in which you perform what you find to do--"do it with thy might." Do it promptly; do not fritter away your life in thinking of what you intend to do to-morrow as if that could recompense for the idleness of to-day. No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow. If we honour Christ and are blessed, it is by the things which we do today. Whatever you do for Christ throw your whole soul into it. Do not give Christ a little slurred labour, done as a matter of course now and then; but when you do serve Him, do it with heart, and soul, and strength.

But where is the might of a Christian? It is not in himself, for he is perfect weakness. His might lieth in the Lord of Hosts. Then let us seek His help; let us proceed with prayer and faith, and when we have done what our "hand findeth to do," let us wait upon the Lord for His blessing. What we do thus will be well done, and will not fail in its effect.

—Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon

Tomorrow is Too Late!

"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man." ~ Proverbs 24:33, 34

The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very proper one. Yet by these littles the day ebbs out, and the time for labour is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns. It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They have no intention to delay for years--a few months will bring the more convenient season--tomorrow if you will, they will attend to serious things; but the present hour is so occupied and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like sands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers. Oh, to be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments on the wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty which shall want even a drop of water, and beg for it in vain. Like a traveller steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is on his master's business and must not tarry. As an armed man enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle, and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that men were wise be-times, and would seek diligently unto the Lord Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected. As yet, faith and holy decision are timely. May we obtain them this night.

Morning and Evening, by C. H. Spurgeon