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

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Holy Foresight

Mat 26:64  Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
 

Ah, LORD, Thou wast in Thy lowest state when before Thy persecutors Thou wast made to stand like a criminal! 

Yet the eyes of Thy faith could see beyond Thy present humiliation into Thy future glory.

What words are these, "Nevertheless - hereafter!" I would imitate Thy holy foresight, and in the midst of poverty, or sickness, or slander, I also would say, "Nevertheless - hereafter." 

Instead of weakness, Thou hast all power; instead of shame, all glory; instead of derision, all worship, Thy cross has not dimmed the splendor of Thy crown, neither has the spittle marred the beauty of Thy face. Say, rather, Thou are the more exalted and honored because of Thy sufferings.

So, LORD, I also would take courage from the "hereafter." I would forget the present tribulation in the future triumph.


Help thou me by directing me into Thy Father's love and into Thine own patience, so that when I am derided for Thy name I may not be staggered but think more and more of the hereafter, and, therefore, all the less of today.

I shall be with Thee soon and behold Thy glory. Wherefore, I am not ashamed but say in my inmost soul, "Nevertheless  hereafter."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Thursday, May 29, 2014

All HE Wants Is Your Faith

God doesn’t want your home, your car, your furniture, your savings, your possessions. All He wants is your faith-your strong belief in His Word. And that may be the one thing that other, more spiritual-appearing people lack.

You may look at another person as being more spiritual than you but that person may actually be struggling hard to keep up an appearance of righteousness. Yet, as God looks at you, He declares, “There is a righteous man or woman.” Why? Because you have admitted your helplessness to become righteous and trusted in the Lord to give you His righteousness. 

Paul tells us we are counted as righteous in God’s eyes for the same reason Abraham was. “Therefore it was imputed to [Abraham] for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans 4:22-24). 

You may claim, “I believe this! I have faith in the God who resurrected Jesus.” Yet, here are some questions for you: Do you believe the Lord can resurrect your troubled marriage? Do you believe He can bring to life a spiritually dead relative? Do you believe He can raise you up out of the pit of a debilitating habit? Do you believe He can erase your cursed past and restore to you all the years that have been wasted? 

When everything looks hopeless-when you are in an impossible situation, with no resources and no hope before you-do you believe God will be your Jehovah Jirah, seeing to your need? Do you believe He is committed to keeping His promises to you and that if even one of His words should fail, the heavens would melt and the universe collapse? 

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

~David Wilkerson~

Monday, May 26, 2014

The Key To Many Of The Painful Or Mysterious Providences Of Our Lives

Like many of Christ's other words this saying of His has a much wider application than its primary reference to Peter's perplexity. 

It furnishes the key to many of the painful or mysterious providences of our lives. We do not understand them at the time. We do not see how they can have any blessing in them for us. They seem altogether dark.

But we have no right to judge of our Master's work in us, or with us until it is finished.

You do not realize now what I am doing. How could we be expected to understand all the Master's transcendent thoughts and plans?

Yet this is not the end. "Afterward you will understand." This mystery is to be explained. This perplexity is to be resolved into the clearness of noonday. 


You do not understand now because you cannot yet see the end you cannot perceive the blessing and the beauty.

The Master Himself knows just what He is going to bring out of each mysterious work of His and therefore He is not perplexed.

Jesus assures us that "Afterward you will understand." We shall see the tangles resolving into lovely grace and beauty!

What is the lesson? That we should always trust God's heart when we cannot understand His hand.


No doubt, divine love and infinite wisdom has planned all His ways with us. No doubt, there is blessing in the outcome, as it lies now in God's mind.

No doubt, we shall see the blessing, too, afterward!

~J. R. Miller~

Friday, May 23, 2014

Full Reliance On God

Psa 72:12  For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

The needy cries; what else can he do? His cry is heard of God; what else need he do?

Let the needy reader take to crying at once, for this will be his wisdom. Do not cry in the ears of friends, for even if they can help you it is only because the LORD enables them.

The nearest way is to go straight to God and let your cry come up before Him. Straightforward makes the best runner: run to the LORD and not to secondary causes.
 

Alas! you cry, "I have no friend or helper." So much the better; you can rely upon God in both capacities - as without supplies and without helpers. Make your double need your double plea. 

Even for temporal mercies you may wait upon God, for He careth for His children in these temporary concerns. 

As for spiritual necessities, which are the heaviest of all, the LORD will hear your cry and will deliver you and supply you.

O poor friend, try your rich God. O helpless one, lean on His help. He has never failed me, and I am sure He will never fail you. 


Come as a beggar, and God will not refuse you help. Come with no plea but His grace. 

Jesus is King; will He let you perish of wants What! Did you forget this! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Rain Without Clouds? Never!

If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth

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 shine out again before long. 

Meanwhile those black clouds are filled with rain; and the blacker they are, the more likely they are to yield plentiful showers.

How can we have rain without clouds?

Our troubles have always brought us blessings, and they always will. They are the black chariots of bright grace.


These clouds will empty themselves before long, and every tender herb will be the gladder for the shower.

Our God may drench us with grief, but He will not drown us with wrath; nay, 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.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Life Line

After a few of the usual sunday evening hymns, the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and before he gave his sermon for the evening, briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.

In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. 


With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.
 

A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the pacific coast, he began, when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. 

The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. 


The aged minister continued with his story.  Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life To which boy he would throw the other end of the life line. 

He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not. 

The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.
 

As the father yelled out, "I love you, son!" he threw out the life line to his son's friend. 

By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered.

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth. 


The father, he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus, Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend.
 

How great is the love of God that he should do the same for us. 

Our Heavenly Father sacrificed his only begotten son that we could be saved.

I urge you to accept his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is throwing out to you in this service.

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely stated one of the boys, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a christian." 


Well, you've got a point there, the old man replied, glancing down at his worn bible.

A big smile broadened his narrow face, he once again looked up at the boys and said, it sure isn't very realistic, is it? 


But the fact that I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up his son for me. 

You see, I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend.
 

~Author unknown~

Thursday, May 15, 2014

You Are Not Your Own!

You are not your own! For you are bought with a  price therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Your eyes are not your own-that you may feed your lusts, that you may go about gaping, and gazing, and looking into every shop window to see the fashions of the day-learn the prevailing pride of life and thus lay up food for your vain mind either in coveting what must be unfitting to your profession or applying your money to an improper use or being disappointed because you cannot afford to buy it.

Your ears are not your own-that you may listen to every foolish tale-drink in every political, worldly, or carnal report which may fall upon them and thus feed that natural desire for news, gossip, and even slander which is the very element of the carnal mind.

Your tongue is not your own-that you may speak what you please, and blurt out whatever passes in the chambers of your heart, without check or fear.

Your hands are not your own-that you may use them as implements of evil or employ them in any other way than to earn with them an honest livelihood. Our hands were not given us for sin but for godly uses.

Your feet are not your own-that you may walk in the ways of the world or that they should carry you to haunts where all around you are engaged upon errands of vanity and sin.

All must be held according to the disposal of God, and under a sense of our obligations to Him.

But perhaps you will say, in the rebellion of your carnal mind, What restraint all this lays upon us. Cannot we look with our eyes as we like-hear with our ears as we please-and speak with our tongues as we choose?


Will you so narrow our path that we are to have nothing of our own-not even our time or money, our body or soul?
 

Surely we may have a little enjoyment now and then a little recreation, a little holiday sometimes, a little relaxation from being always so strict and so religious-a little feeding of our carnal mind which cannot bear all this restraint?
 

Well, but what will you bring upon yourself by the roving eye, the foolish tongue, the loose hand, the straying foot?

Darkness, bondage, guilt, misery, death!
 

But, you say, "we are not to be tied up so tightly as all this! We have gospel liberty, but you will not allow us even that!
 

Yes, blessed be God, there is gospel liberty, for there is no real happiness in religion without it; but not liberty to sin, not liberty to gratify the lusts of the flesh, not liberty to act contrary to the gospel we profess, and the precepts of God's Word-for this is not liberty but licentiousness.
 

You are not your own! For you are bought with a price-therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

~J. C. Philpot~


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

GOD Has HIS Time

It is true that God has His time. There is a fullness of the time in respect of every Divine movement, and we cannot take things out of God's time.

Perhaps we have learned that. We cannot precipitate things, we cannot hurry God, we cannot bring things about for which the time is not ripe.

This knowledge is with the Lord, and He would bring us in spirit into oneness with Him on that point, to be one with Him in His time, that when His time does come He has us ready to His hand as those through whom He can move.

Whatever be the purpose that is bound up with His time, the Lord must have an instrument through which He may move to its accomplishment.

And when the Lord's time comes how we know it in our hearts!

I think we all know something about this. Oh, how we have cried, and groaned, and agonized, and striven, and done all that we could do to get God to do certain things; but His time had not come.

We have been tested in faith, and we have come at length to the place where we definitely and strongly stand with God for that thing and hold on, and then God's time comes, and we know in our hearts that the time has come, and in a wonderful way it just happens.

All that it has cost of prayer and anguish would perhaps lead us to expect that, when it happens, the world will know all about it; but it just happens, and you hardly recognize from the outward indications that the thing has come about.

God's time came, and it was so easy; it just transpired.

But we can never say - we are forbidden to say that our holding on to the Lord, our prayer, our standing with Him, our getting through on that matter was unnecessary; that it would have happened in the appointment of God at His time, whether we agonized or not.

You dare not take that position over anything in the way of God.

Isaac may have been pre-determined before ever there was a world, and yet Abram's faith was the essential factor to the bringing in of Isaac.

The whole Word of God bears down upon that, that God Himself demands the co-operating faith of His own people, even to bring through the works which were foreordained. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Monday, May 12, 2014

Called Aside And Waiting

Act 7:30  "But at the end of forty years there appeared to him in the Desert of Mount Sinai an angel in the middle of a flame of fire in a bush.
 

Act 7:33  "'Take off your shoes,' said the Lord, 'for the spot on which you are standing is holy ground.
 

Act 7:34  I have seen, yes, I have seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. And now I will send you to Egypt.'

Often the Lord calls us aside from our work for a season and
asks us to be still and learn before we go out again to minister.
 

And the hours spent waiting are not lost time.
 

An ancient knight once realized, as he was fleeing from his enemies, that his horse needed a shoe replaced.

The prudent course of action seemed to be to hurry on without delay.

Yet higher wisdom told him to stop for a few minutes at the blacksmith’s along the road.

Although he heard the galloping hooves of the enemies’ horses close behind, he waited until his steed was reshod before continuing his escape.

Just as the enemy appeared, only a hundred yards away, he jumped into the saddle and dashed away with the swiftness of the wind.

Then he knew his stopping had actually hastened his escape.
 

Quite often God will ask us to wait before we go, so we may fully recover from our last mission before entering the next stage of our journey and work.

~From Days of Heaven upon Earth~
 

Waiting! Yes, patiently waiting! Till next steps made plain will be; To hear, with the inner hearing, The Voice that will call for me.
 

Waiting! Yes, hopefully waiting! With hope that need not grow dim; The Master is pledged to guide me, And my eyes are unto Him.
 

Waiting! Expectantly waiting! Perhaps it may be today The Master will quickly open The gate to my future way.
 

Waiting! Yes, waiting! still waiting! I know, though I’ve waited long, That, while He withholds His purpose, His waiting cannot be wrong.
 

Waiting! Yes, waiting! still waiting! The Master will not be late:
Since He knows that I am waiting For Him to unlatch the gate.
 

~J. Danson Smith~

Thursday, May 8, 2014

We Don't Know What We Should Pray For

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Often it is simply the answers to our prayers that cause many of the difficulties in the Christian life.


We pray for patience, and our Father sends demanding people our way who test us to the limit, “because suffering produces perseverance” (Rom. 5:3).

We pray for a submissive spirit, and God sends suffering again, for we learn to be obedient in the same way Christ “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8).
 

We pray to be unselfish, and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice by placing other people’s needs first and by laying down our lives for other believers.

We pray for strength and humility, and “a messenger of Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7) comes to torment us until we lie on the ground pleading for it to be withdrawn.
 

We pray to the Lord, as His apostles did, saying,“Increase our
faith!” (Luke 17:5). Then our money seems to take wings and
fly away; our children become critically ill; an employee becomes careless, slow, and wasteful; or some other new trial comes upon us, requiring more faith than we have ever before experienced.
 

We pray for a Christlike life that exhibits the humility of a lamb.Then we are asked to perform some lowly task, or we are
unjustly accused and given no opportunity to explain, for “he
was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and did not open his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).


We pray for gentleness and quickly face a storm of temptation
to be harsh and irritable.


We pray for quietness, and suddenly every nerve is stressed to its limit with tremendous tension so that we may learn that when He sends His peace,no one can disturb it.
 

We pray for love for others, and God sends unique suffering by sending people our way who are difficult to love and who say things that get on our nerves and tear at our heart.
 

He does this because “love is patient, love is kind---It is not
rude, it is not easily angered---It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

(1 Cor. 13:4–5, 7–8).
 

Yes, we pray to be like Jesus, and God’s answer is: “I have
tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10); “Will your
courage endure or your hands be strong?” (Ezek. 22:14); “Can
you drink the cup?” (Matt. 20:22).
 

The way to peace and victory is to accept every circumstance and every trial as being straight from the hand of our loving Father; to live “with him in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 2:6), above the clouds, in the very presence of His throne; and to look down from glory on our circumstances as being lovingly and divinely appointed.

~Selected~
 

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile All sense of nearness, human and divine; The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart, The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine; But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone, The everlasting arms upheld my own.
 

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds, The moon was darkened by a misty doubt, The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears, And all my little candle flames burned out; But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night, The face of Christ made all the darkness bright.

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease, A slumber free from pain, a hushed repose; Above my head the skies were black with storm, And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes; But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew, I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.
 

I thank You, Lord,You were too wise to heed My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought, Since these rich gifts Your bounty has bestowed Have brought me more than all I asked or thought; Giver of good, so answer each request With Your own giving, better than my best.
 

~Annie Johnson Flint~

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Faith Now And Forever!

Abraham remained standing before the Lord. (Genesis 18:22)
 

In this chapter, Abraham pleaded with God for the lives of others.
 

A friend of God’s can do exactly that. But perhaps you see
Abraham’s level of faith and his friendship with God as something far beyond your own possibilities. 


Do not be discouraged, however, for Abraham grew in his faith not by giant leaps but step by step. And we can do the same.
 

The person whose faith has been severely tested yet who has
come through the battle victoriously is the person to whom even greater tests will come.


The finest jewels are those that are the most carefully cut and polished, and the most precious metals are put through the hottest fires.

You can be sure Abraham would never have been called the Father of Faith had he not been tested to the utmost.
 

Read Genesis 22.In verse 2 God said to Abraham,“Take your
son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and sacrifice him.”
 

We then see him climbing Mount Moriah with his heart heavy
and yearning yet humbly obedient.


He climbed with Isaac, the object of his great love, who was about to be sacrificed at the command of God***the One whom Abraham faithfully loved and served!
 

What a lesson this should be to us when we question God’s dealings in our lives! 

Rebuke all explanations that try to cast doubt on this staggering scene, for this was an object lesson for all ages! Angels also looked on in awe.

Will Abraham’s faith not stand forever as a strength and a help to all God’s people? 

Will his trial not be a witness to the fact that unwavering faith will always prove the faithfulness of God?
 

The answer is a resounding***yes!  

And once Abraham’s faith had victoriously endured its greatest test, the Angel of the Lord***the Lord Jesus, Jehovah, and He in whom the “many promises God has made are***Yes [and] Amen (2 Cor. 1:20)***spoke to him and said,“Now I know that you fear God” (Gen.22:12). 

The Lord said to him, in effect,“Because you have trusted me through this great trial, I will trust you, and you will forever be my friend [Isa. 41:8]. 

The Lord promised Abraham, “I will surely bless you and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen. 22:17–18).
 

It is true, and always will be, that “those who have faith are
blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Gal. 3:9).
 


~Selected~
 

Having a friendship with God is no small thing

Monday, May 5, 2014

Do Not Despair!

Psa 27:13-14 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
 

Do not despair!
 

Oh, how great the temptation is to despair at times! Our soul
becomes depressed and disheartened, and our faith staggers
under the severe trials and testing that come into our lives, especially during times of bereavement and suffering.


We may come to the place where we say,“I cannot bear this any longer. I am close to despair under these circumstances God has allowed."

He tells me not to despair, but what am I supposed to do when I am at this point?
 

What have you done in the past when you felt weak physically? You could not do anything.You ceased from doing. 

In your weakness, you leaned on the shoulder of a strong loved one.You leaned completely on someone else and rested, becoming still, and trusting in another’s strength.
 

It is the same when you are tempted to despair under spiritual
afflictions.


Once you have come close to the point of despair, God’s message is not,“Be strong and courageous” (Josh. 1:6), for He knows that your strength and courage have run away. 

Instead, He says sweetly, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).
 

Hudson Taylor was so weak and feeble in the last few months
of his life that he told a friend,“I am so weak I cannot write. I
cannot read my Bible. I cannot even pray. All I can do is lie still
in the arms of God as a little child, trusting Him.”


This wonderful man of God, who had great spiritual power, came to the point of physical suffering and weakness where all he could do was lie still and trust.

That is all God asks of you as His dear child. When you become weak through the fierce fires of affliction, do not try to be strong. Just “be still, and know that [He is] God.” 

And know that He will sustain you and bring you through the fire.

God reserves His best medicine for our times of deepest
despair. Be strong and take heart. Psalm 27:14
 

Be strong, He has not failed you In all the past, And will He go and leave you To sink at last?
 

No, He said He will hide you Beneath His wing; And sweetly there in safety You then may sing.

Friday, May 2, 2014

When You Hear The ROAR Of The Lion


When I was a young preacher, I didn’t give much thought to spiritual warfare.
 

I thought anyone who walked in victory shouldn’t have any problems at all against the devil. To me, it was simply a matter of resisting him. 

But soon I found a roaring lion pouncing on my weaknesses with all his might and I felt helpless to do battle with him.
 

All too often I see the devil doing the same thing to other sincere Christians.
 

I know multitudes of godly servants-people pure in heart, walking in grace-overwhelmed by demonic floods of confusion and despair.
 

Such Christians can labor diligently for the Lord for years.Then, one day, Satan suddenly injects accusing thoughts into their minds.

Overnight they are overcome with awful troubles-unexpected temptations, covetousness, depression. Their trials are so deep, strange and mysterious that these saints have no idea where they came from.
 

I believe there is only one explanation: Their troubles are a demonic onslaught. 

Time after time I have seen this happen to Christians who are
growing by leaps and bounds.


At the very peak of their spiritual growth, Satan puts an old seduction in their path. 

It may be an old lust, something they thought they had overcome years before. But now, after years of living in victory, they’re walking a tightrope, teetering on the brink of an indulgence that could lead them back into terrible bondage.
 

I have experienced this flood. And multitudes of believers are being caught up in it right now.

They’re being flooded with persecutions, physical attacks, mental harassment, fiery temptations out of hell, friends turning against them as enemies.

Satan has aimed an all-out, last-days assault meant to sweep us away in utter despair.
 

How do we resist Satan’s power? John gives us the answer in Revelation 12: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (verse 11). 

When you hear the roar of the lion-when the flood crashes in and you're overwhelmed-simply run to the holy of holies. 

By faith, enter into the very presence of God on His throne because the Lamb has made a way for you, through His blood.
 

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20).

~David Wilkerson~