Isa 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me

Sunday, March 27, 2016

It's A Warfare


It's a Warfare...Most of you don't need to be told that, or to be reminded of it.

Many of you are here, really war-scarred warriors, you've been in the fight and the battle has left its marks on you.

You know it quite well. And yet, it needs to be said - perhaps firstly to those who are newly, who have newly donned the armor, who have newly come to the LORD:

Understand that you have been enrolled in a spiritual army!

And your life business is war. You're going to find that out sooner or later whether you like it or not, but there's the fact.

And that is a very responsible position. One, by failure in this warfare, may let down many and affect the whole campaign.

But, dear friends, although you and others may know it so well, and feel that you do not need to be reminded, are you sure that you don't?

Well I think I know something about it in experience; and yet, and yet there's this subtle truth, this subtle fact...

That very often we are in situations, things are going on, and we begin to blame people and circumstances and get all worked up about things that are happening, and look for scapegoats, and forget, forget the reality of this thing.

Why, the devil's after something!

Here the battle is on, there is no doubt about it; the air is thick with conflict; and we get our eyes on people, and things, and forget.

And we are defeated, we are defeated, we are just beaten, and rendered casualties, put out of the fight...

Simply because we have lost sight of the fact, the abiding fact, that we are in a spiritual warfare, and behind 'things' there are other forces.

And we all need to be reminded. 

It is no small thing, you know, when we are really in a situation like that, and things are getting worked up to a fine pitch of stress, when someone comes along and says, "Look here, the enemy is in this.

The enemy's in this, he is trying to get you, he knows something or other, he's on your track; let's have some prayer about it" and we get to prayer, and the whole thing goes.

So sometimes just to remind one another of the fact is a tremendous deliverance: we find that it is, it IS a fact.

We've been attributing it to things and people, and there's something deeper than that behind it.

But we do need to be reminded continually that we are in a warfare - we are.

Well, that's the first thing here...the conception of the Christian life-we must just get a hold of it and settle it.

And, although I don't like saying it, I don't think we are ever going to be out of this warfare here!

No. Well, let's go on.

The second thing that is in these statements is that, if you are going to wage triumphant spiritual warfare, you must be all in it.

No soldier on active service (for that's the literal wording) entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Saturday, March 26, 2016

The Care Of The Poor

Psa 41:3  The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
 

Remember that this is a promise to the man who considers the poor. Are you one of these? Then take home the text.

See how in the hour of sickness the GOD of the poor will bless the man who cares for the poor!


The everlasting arms shall stay up his soul as friendly hands and downy pillows stay up the body of the sick.

How tender and sympathizing is this image; how near it brings our GOD to our infirmities and sicknesses!

Whoever heard this of the old heathen Jove, or of the gods of India or China! This is language peculiar to the GOD of Israel; He it is who deigns to become nurse and attendant upon good men

If He smites with one hand, He sustains with the other.

Oh, it is blessed fainting when one falls upon the LORD's own bosom and is born thereon!

Grace is the best of restoratives; divine love is the safest stimulant for the languishing patient; it makes the soul strong as a giant, even when the bones are breaking through the skin.

No physician like the LORD, no tonic like His promise, no wine like His love.

If the reader has failed in his duty to the poor, let him see what he is losing and at once become their friend and helper. 


~Charles Spurgeon~

Sunday, March 20, 2016

The Cross And The Flesh Cannot Exist Together


And that “One died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him” 

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

So far as GOD was concerned the history of the fallen race was concluded at Calvary.

From that time onward, GOD'S entire concern was the new creation.

It is no use our trying to bring some of the old creation life into the new creation, for GOD will not accept it.

Our human capabilities as well as our infirmities; what we call our better side as well as what we recognize to be our worst side; our goodness and our badness have all been included in that death.

Henceforth we are called to live not on a human level but on a divine.

In ourselves we possess nothing which is acceptable to GOD.

So often it is the assertion of some human element, some like or dislike, some ambition or some personal interest which paralyses the work of GOD in and through us.

To regard not only our sins but ourselves as having been taken to the Cross by Christ is the only way by which those purposes of GOD can be wrought out through our lives.

It may seem strange that while we so often deplore our lack of spirituality, we are so slow to accept the verdict of the Cross on our natural lives.

We find it humiliating to accept the same verdict on ourselves as has been passed on the world, namely that of death by crucifixion.

Nevertheless there is no other basis for a really spiritual life and witness: the Cross must work out death in us in order that the life of Christ may be released in full expression through us. 

So there may be a sense in which the Christian also has to face the offense of the Cross.

Only by really knowing the power of the fact that he is crucified with Christ can he know the blessedness of the new life.

When it is truly “no longer I”, then the way is opened for the affirmation: “but Christ that liveth in me”.

The end is glorious but the way is the painful way of the Cross.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Thursday, March 17, 2016

But Oh, The Struggle! Oh, The Conflict!

Eze 21:27  I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

Jesus wants our hearts and affections. Therefore every idol must go down, sooner or later, because the idol draws away the affections of the soul from Christ.

Everything that is loved in opposition to Him must sooner or later be taken away, that the LORD Jesus alone may be worshiped. 

Everything which exacts the allegiance of the soul must be overthrown. 

Jesus shall have our heart and affections, but in having our heart and affection, He shall have it... wholly, solely, and undividedly. He shall have it entirely for Himself. He shall reign and rule supreme.

Now, here comes the conflict and the struggle. SELF says, "I will have a part." Self wants to be... honored, admired, esteemed, bowed down to.

Self wants to indulge in, and gratify its desires. Self wants, in some way, to erect its throne in opposition to the LORD of life and glory.

But Jesus says, "No! I must reign supreme!"

Whatever it is that stands up in opposition to Him, down it must go! Just as Dagon fell down before the ark, so self must fall down before Christ...in every shape, in every form, in whatever subtle guise self wears, down it must come to a wreck and ruin before the King of Zion! 

So, if we are continually building up SELF, Jesus will be continually overthrowing self. 

If we are setting up our idols, He shall be casting them down. 

If we are continually hewing out "cisterns that can hold no water," He will be continually dashing these cisterns to pieces.
If we think highly of our knowledge, we must be reduced to total folly.
 

If we are confident of our strength, we must be reduced to utter weakness. 

If we highly esteem our attainments, or in any measure are resting upon the power of the creature, the power of the creature must be overthrown, so that we shall stand weak before GOD, unable to lift up a finger to deliver our souls from going down into the pit.

In this way does the LORD teach His people the lesson that Christ must be all in all. They learn... not in the way of speculation, nor in the way of mere dry doctrine, not from the mouth of others, but they learn these lessons in painful soul-experience. 

And every living soul that is sighing and longing after a manifestation of Christ and desiring to have Him enthroned in the heart; every such soul will know, sooner or later...an utter overthrow of self, a thorough prostration of this idol, a complete breaking to pieces of this beloved image, that the desire of the righteous may be granted, and that Christ may reign and rule as KING and LORD in him and over him, setting up His blessed kingdom there, and  winning to Himself every affection of the renewed heart. 

Are there not moments, friends, are there not some few and fleeting moments when the desire of our souls is that Christ should be our LORD and GOD; when we are willing that He should have every affection; that every rebellious thought should be subdued and brought into obedience to the cross of Christ; that every plan should be frustrated which is not for the glory of GOD and our soul's spiritual profit?

Are there not seasons in our experience when we can lay down our souls before GOD, and say "Let Christ be precious to my soul, let Him come with power to my heart, let Him set up His throne as LORD and KING, and let self be nothing before Him?" 

But oh, the struggle! oh, the conflict! when GOD answers these petitions!

When our plans are frustrated, what a rebellion works up in the carnal mind!

When self is cast down, what a rising up of the fretful, peevish impatience of the creature!

When the LORD does answer our prayers, and strips off all false confidence; when He does remove our rotten props, and dash to pieces our broken cisterns, what a storm; what a conflict takes place in the soul!

But He is not to be moved; He will take His own way. "I will overturn, let the creature say what it will. I will overturn, let the creature think what it will. Down it shall go to ruin! It shall come to a wreck! It shall be overthrown! My purpose shall be accomplished, and I will fulfill all My pleasure.

Self is a rebel who has set up an idolatrous temple, and I will overturn and bring the temple to ruin, for the purpose of manifesting My glory and My salvation, that I may be your LORD and your GOD." 

If GOD has overturned our bright prospects, shall we say it was a cruel hand that laid them low?

If He has overthrown our worldly plans, shall we say it was an unkind act?

If He has reduced our false righteousness to a heap of rubbish, in order that Christ may be embraced as our all in all, shall we say it was a cruel deed?

Is he an unkind father who takes away poison from his child, and gives him food? Is she a cruel mother who snatches her boy from the precipice on which he was playing? No! The kindness was manifested in the act of snatching the child from destruction! 

So if the LORD has broken and overthrown our purposes, it was a kind act; for in so doing He brings us to nothing, that Christ may be embraced as our all in all, that our hearts may echo back, "O LORD, fulfill all Your own promises in our souls, and make us willing to be nothing; that upon the nothingness of self, the glory and beauty and preciousness of Christ may be exalted!"

~J. C. Philpot~



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Sunday, March 13, 2016

Perfection Of Suffering

Psa 138:8  The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. 

There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the human reason.

There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. 

When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask GOD to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.

It is in this state of the perfection of suffering that the Holy Spirit works many marvelous things in our souls.

In such a condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of GOD; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it stops asking GOD questions; it stops crying, "Why hast thou forsaken me ?"

The imagination stops building air castles, or running off on foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentle; the choices are annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of GOD.

The affections are weaned from all creatures and all things; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way;

For, let the circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for GOD and His will, and it feels assured that GOD is making everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present, work together for its good.

Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! of losing our own strength, and wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus.

~Soul Food~

The great thing is to suffer without being discouraged. 

~Fenelon~

The heart that serves, and loves, and clings, Hears everywhere the rush of angel wings.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Whose Battle?

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.
 

Let this point be settled, that the battle is the LORD's, and we may be quite sure of the victory, and of the victory in such a way as will best of all display the Power of GOD.

The LORD is too much forgotten by all men, yea, even by the assemblies of Israel; and when there is an opportunity to make men see that the great First Cause can achieve His purposes without the power of man, it is a priceless occasion which should be well employed.

Even Israel looks too much to sword and spear. It is a grand thing to have no sword in the hand of David, and yet for David to know that his God will overthrow a whole army of aliens.

If we are indeed contending for truth and righteousness, let us not tarry till we have talent, or wealth, or any other form of visible power at our disposal; but with such stones as we find in the brook, and with our own usual sling, let us run to meet the enemy.


If it were our own battle we might not be confident; but if we are standing up for Jesus and warring in His strength alone, who can withstand us?

Without a trace of hesitancy let us face the Philistines; for the LORD of hosts is with us, and who can be against us?

~Charles Spurgeon~ 

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Trouble Teaches

The question often comes, "Why didn't He help me sooner?"

It is not His order. He must first adjust you to the trouble and cause you to learn your lesson from it.

His promise is, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him."

He must be with you in the trouble first all day and all night. 

Then He will take you out of it.

This will not come till you have stopped being restless and fretful about it and become calm and quiet.

Then He will say, "It is enough."

God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They are intended to educate us.

When their good work is done, a glorious recompense will come to us through them.

There is a sweet joy and a real value in them. He does not regard them as difficulties but as opportunities.

 ~Selected.

Not always OUT of our troublous times, And the struggles fierce and grim, But IN--deeper IN - to our one sure rest, The place of our peace, in Him.

~Annie Johnson Flint~

We once heard a simple old colored man say something that we have never forgotten: "When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary."

There are two ways of getting out of a trial.

One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over.

The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace.

Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way.

Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

~A. B. Simpson~

Friday, March 4, 2016

Have You Been Diverted From What Counts For GOD?

If we are going to stand with GOD, for that which wholly represents His mind, we have to meet the most fierce antagonism, conflict, and pressure, from every quarter;

There is going to be no method overlooked by the enemy for frustrating the end in view.

Why so much antagonism? Why so much pressure?

Each time when something is in view which is to count for GOD in relation to His End-time purpose, there it is, you meet it all the time.

Where does the Devil get his information from?

He finds out when we have a message from GOD that is going to count, and we meet this pressure from within and without when we are in the thing that is counting for GOD.

When it comes you must recognize that it is related to something which is to count for GOD.

It will come through people, and if we blame the people and focus our attention on them, we have missed the point;

If we begin to fight people whilst all the time it is something deeper:

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

People get cross with one another, and that gets on top of us, and we begin to direct our attention to them, and we get out with them and there is a distressing situation, and we see afterwards how foolish we are to allow the Devil to swing us off into a human track when it is a spiritual issue.

It has not really been the fault of persons, or just inconsequential happenings; there has been a spiritual issue at stake...

And all these other things were brought about and used by the enemy to occupy us with the lesser, and so blind us to the real issue, thus keeping us out of prayer, and preventing our standing with the LORD for His rights which were at some point or other being challenged.

It is the realm of unceasing conflict, and it would seem that we have come into that part of the age when the enemy takes no rest, and we find we can take no off-times.

Anything you do must be done deliberately with GOD, and you must never act out of, or apart from, GOD; that exposed movement has been watched for by the enemy, and you have to pay for it.

~T. Austin Sparks~