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

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Our Words And Deeds Are Irrevocable

We cannot recall any word we have spoken. It may be a false word or an unkind word-a word which will blast and burn!

Instantly after it has been spoken-we may wish it back and may rush after it and try to stop it-but there is no power in the world that can unsay the hurtful word or blot it out of our life!
 

It is just so with our acts.

A moment after we have done a wicked thing, we may bitterly repent it.

We may be willing to give all we have in the world to undo it, to make it as though it never had been.

But in vain. A deed done takes its place in the universe as a fact-and never can be recalled.

We should be sure before we speak a word or do an act-that it is right, that we shall never desire to have it recalled...for when once we have opened our lips, or lifted our hand-there will be no unsaying or undoing possible. 

Our words and deeds are irrevocable.

We cannot recall anything we have done, neither can we change it.

But by other words and deeds, we may in some measure modify the effect of that which we cannot blot out.

Paul could not undo his persecutions of Christians-but by a life to devotion to Christ's cause-he could in a sense make reparation for the terrible harm he had done.

Just so, we cannot undo the wrong things we have done...but we should strive to set in motion other influences which may at least compensate in some sense for the harm they have wrought.

We cannot unsay the sharp word which wounds our friend's heart-but we can by kindness and loyal devotion-yet bring good and blessing to his life.

~J. R. Miller~

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

The Hill Of The LORD

Here, then, is “the hill of the Lord”. We have to identify that hill, first literally and then spiritually.

It does not take very long to do that because the Psalms almost opens with the identity of the hill of the Lord. “Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:6). 

My holy hill of Zion is, historically and literally, the hill of the Lord.

What, then, is Zion spiritually? 

Do you remember that that second Psalm was quoted right at the beginning of the church’s history?

When the earthly forces set themselves in array against the Lord and against His anointed ones, the latter met in prayer and quoted that Psalm, and the place where they were assembled was shaken (Acts 4).

The very shaking of heaven came into that place. What did it say? You have touched the holy hill of Zion! 

Where is that?

The Lord Jesus is ascended to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.

It is the place of absolute ascendency, victory, power.

Who is Lord now? “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed…Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion”. 

Zion, then, is not a place on the earth: Zion has now resolved itself into the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ at God’s right hand.

Thus the apostle writes, “Ye are come unto mount Zion…the heavenly Jerusalem…the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:22-23).

It is no longer a place, it is a spiritual position. That is Zion, and we have identified the holy hill.

Who shall ascend? Who shall stand? You see, this is a present question.

While the consummation of this lies at the end of the way, it is something which has a present bearing upon the life of the Lord’s people.

Let me say in fuller definition that Zion, or the holy hill of the Lord, spiritually embodies all that divine thought which the people of God will express when He has them, as He will have them, wholly according to His will.

In other words when God gets a people where He has ever determined to have them, He will have them in what is the spiritual counterpart of Zion absolute ascendancy over all other powers.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Put Forth

John 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

Oh, this is bitter work for Him and us-bitter for us to go, but equally bitter for Him to cause us pain; yet it must be done.

It would not be conducive to our true welfare to stay always in one happy and comfortable lot. He therefore puts us forth.

The fold is deserted, that the sheep may wander over the bracing mountain slope. The laborers must be thrust out into the harvest, else the golden grain would spoil.

Take heart! it could not be better to stay when He determines otherwise; and if the loving hand of our Lord puts us forth, it must be well. 

On, in His name, to green pastures and still waters and mountain heights! He goeth before thee. 

Whatever awaits us is encountered first by Him. Faith's eye can always discern His majestic presence in front; and when that cannot be seen, it is dangerous to move forward.

Bind this comfort to your heart, that the Savior has tried for Himself all the experiences through which He asks you to pass; and He would not ask you to pass through them unless He was sure that they were not too difficult for your feet, or too trying for your strength.

This is the Blessed Life-not anxious to see far in front, nor careful about the next step, not eager to choose the path, nor weighted with the heavy responsibilities of the future, but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time.

Dark is the sky! and veiled the unknown morrow Dark is life's way, for night is not yet o'er;

The longed-for glimpse I may not meanwhile borrow;  But, this I know, HE GOETH ON BEFORE.

Dangers are nigh! and fears my mind are shaking; Heart seems to dread what life may hold in store; But I am His-He knows the way I'm taking, More blessed still-HE GOETH ON BEFORE.

Doubts cast their weird, unwelcome shadows o'er me, Doubts that life's best-life's choicest things are o'er; What but His Word can strengthen, can restore me, And this blest fact; that still HE GOES BEFORE.

HE GOES BEFORE! Be this my consolation! He goes before! On this my heart would dwell!

He goes before! This guarantees salvation! HE GOES BEFORE! And therefore all is well.

~J. D. Smith~

The Oriental shepherd was always ahead of his sheep. He was down in front. Any attack upon them had to take him into account.

Now God is down in front. He is in the tomorrows. It is tomorrow that fills men with dread. God is there already.

All the tomorrows of our life have to pass Him before they can get to us.

~F. B. M.~

God is in every tomorrow, Therefore I live for today,  Certain of finding at sunrise, Guidance and strength for the way;

Power for each moment of weakness, Hope for each moment of pain, Comfort for every sorrow, Sunshine and joy after rain."

Friday, June 24, 2016

Mixture Of Truth And Error

It does not require a great deal of intelligence in order to recognize that, throughout the history of God's work, the master-stroke of the great perverter has been confusion.

God is not the God of confusion, but of order.

Satan is the god of confusion.

To get order out of chaos, God said: "Let there be light".

To get chaos out of order, Satan says 'Let there be confusion'.

His it is to confuse issues and elements.

To do this, he must - as the word suggests - fuse (or try to fuse) elements which are constitutionally different and do not belong to each other.

Thus there is a constitutional contradiction and inconsistency.

It is only when his master-method runs amok that we have utter and unmitigated wickedness.

His main work is deception by mixture.

It is just here that the place, meaning, and sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in the life of the child of God has its meaning and importance.

He is 'The Spirit of Truth'.

He alone knows where truth ends and falsehood begins.

Only as we truly "walk in the Spirit" shall we know the truth and be made free from error.

A walk in the Spirit demands a 'circumcised heart', a heart in which the severance has been made between flesh and spirit, Christ and self.

There has never been a heresy that has not had in it sufficient truth to deceive very good people.

Likewise, there has never been anything wholly of God but the strategy of the Evil One has been to fasten on to it some implication, insinuation, interpretation, or suggestion, that would make it questionable or 'dangerous'.

He even did this with the Lord Jesus Himself.

He did it with Paul all through his life. Let a demon-possessed girl in Philippi sponsor the preaching of Paul and Silas, and it is damned and discredited.

So, we come to this. A good thing can be made its own enemy, by being either confused, or taken out of its true meaning.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Humility Is Needed to be His Dwelling Place

The whole thought and intention of the incarnation is: “God with us”, “God manifest in the flesh”, and dwelling in man.

That is bound up with Christ, and that was in the eternal counsels of God.

If God were going to dwell in man, and at some dateless point pride was found in the heart of Lucifer, and he reached out to occupy the place which God had appointed for Christ, that he should dwell in man as God, you have two lines at once starting off:

The line of God indwelling man; and the whole course of demon possession – Satan seeking to gain entrance into human life and make it his tabernacle, his dwelling.

Those are two courses of history. It is Christ and Antichrist.
 
What is Antichrist? In the full development of Antichrist it is Satan incarnate as God dwelling in man, being worshipped (mark you) as God in man.

What is it that moves toward that? It is this evil thing of which we have been speaking: pride.

What is pride? Pride is the elevation of man – Antichrist is the elevation of man to the place of God.

All the things that are said about pride, independence, relate to that.

Independence is man assuming personal rights, prerogatives, acknowledging no greater authority than himself, bowing to no one, a law unto himself, drawing things to himself in possessiveness, having them under his control, in his own hand, all things centered in himself and working toward self-exaltation.

Pride in its simplest forms has all those elements, and it has only to grow.

That is the soul of man by nature. That soul has only to exert itself or assert itself and you get a development of Antichrist, or the spirit of Antichrist.
 
What is it that marks the Christ? Is it this assertiveness, this personal drive? No. Christ is the Lamb, as it had been newly slain, and it is the Lamb Who shall overcome.

What is a lamb? A lamb is dependent, in itself nothing. The Lord will deal with us in this way.

If the Lord is going to constitute us His temple, if we are really going to be a dwelling place of God; that is, not to be brought to ruin, but to be established, to become a part of that tabernacle of God coming down from God out of heaven, God dwelling with man, what will the Lord do with us?

He will destroy our independence, empty us of our self-sufficiency, bring us to the place where we have nothing in ourselves and our all in Himself.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Having What Your Father Wants You To Have

Pride is shown in possession or possessiveness; that is, taking hold of things to govern them ourselves, to be in possession of them.

There is nothing like that about the LORD Jesus. 

Listen to some of the sublime things that He said: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…”. “All that the Father giveth me shall come…” That is not mere passivity, but faith in the Father.

It is our inborn desire to have a sphere of power, of influence, of domination, of government, that causes us to try to get something, to get hold of something, to possess something, to see something, to have something, to see the work grow, to see a success.

It is a mark of the house of GOD that there is no strain to possess for the sake of possession, to have power, to have mastery, to hold something...That is mine! Do not touch this - it is mine!

The LORD Jesus had nothing in Himself, and wanted nothing for Himself, but He had everything in the Father.

His attitude was, Father, if You want Me to have that, You will give it to me.

I am not going to strive, and worry, and manipulate, and work, and plan, and scheme, and be all the time anxious to have it.

If You want Me to have that, I trust You to give it to Me, and what You do not want Me to have I do not want!

That is the attitude of Christ, and that is how the LORD builds His church.

We must be very careful that this natural possessiveness does not come up in the things of the LORD.

It works up unconsciously, even in our desire for spiritual blessing.

It is to possess something in order that, having it, we may have greater influence, we may be something more, that we may become a dominating factor, that we may be recognized.

Even a desire for holiness may have a subtle snare in it, that if we are holy it will be noted that we are holy, said that we are holy.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Sunday, June 19, 2016

The Peril Of Looking Backward

There is the one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back, and is therefore not fit for the kingdom.

Luk 9:62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

That is the backward look.


It is the look which Israel took in the wilderness. Psa 78:41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

They looked back and spoiled their furrow, they spoiled their whole course.

They failed to enter in simply because they looked in the wrong direction, that is, they looked back.

You know that that was one of the troubles in New Testament times.

The letter to the Galatians was written because of that peril. 

They were beginning to look back.

There was a voice from behind; the voice of the Judaizers was calling them from behind: ‘Come back’ not to the world, not to ungodliness, not to forsake Christ; but to come back to a religious life which was less than that fullness of Christ to which they had been called; to a religious life which was not a spiritual life.

They were in danger of looking back.

They had indeed already half looked back and had come to a standstill.

They had been going on, but now they had stopped going on, and the question was would they continue to go on or would they go back?

That letter was written to induce a going on. This letter to the Hebrews was written for the same purpose. 

The peril of a backward look is always there, in some way or another.

And then we are told of some people who looked around when they were commanded not to look around.

I think that is what Peter did.

When he was beginning to walk on the water he took his eyes off the Lord and looked around and he went down (Matthew 14:28-31).

His eyes changed their direction and he began to look around “WHEN HE SAW the wind” (verse 30).

That is what Israel did when the spies went out and came back with their wrong report.

They looked around walled cities, giants, all kinds of difficulties.

They looked around, they got their eyes off the LORD.

Only two of them kept their eyes in the right direction and they went through eventually to the end. “Look not around”.

That is, do not allow circumstances so to lay hold of your vision and to fasten upon your outlook that they control your movement.  

Let thine eyes look right on – not around.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Friday, June 17, 2016

Our Field Of Battle

Deut. 20:4  For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

We have no enemies but the enemies of GOD. Our fights are not against men but against Spiritual Wickednesses.

We war with the devil and the blasphemy and error and despair which he brings into the field of battle.

We fight with all the armies of sin--impurity, drunkenness, oppression, infidelity, and ungodliness. 

With these we contend earnestly, but not with sword or spear; the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

Jehovah, our GOD, abhors everything which is evil, and, therefore, He goeth with us to fight for us in this crusade.

He will save us, and He will give us grace to war a good warfare and win the victory.

We may depend upon it that if we are on GOD'S side GOD is on our side.

With such an august ally the conflict is never in the least degree doubtful.

It is not that truth is mighty and must prevail but that might lies with the Father who is almighty, with Jesus who has all power in heaven and in earth, and with the Holy Spirit who worketh His will among men.

Soldiers of Christ, gird on your armor.

Strike home in the name of the GOD of holiness, and by faith grasp His salvation.

Let not this day pass without striking a blow for Jesus and holiness.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Weighed In The Balances And Found Wanting?

Dan 5:27  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

It is well frequently to weigh ourselves in the scale of God’s Word. 


You will find it a holy exercise to read some psalm of David, and, as you meditate upon each verse, to ask yourself, “Can I say this?

Have I felt as David felt? Has my heart ever been broken on account of sin, as his was when he penned his penitential psalms?

Has my soul been full of true confidence in the hour of difficulty as his was when he sang of God’s mercies in the cave of Adullam, or in the holds of Engedi?

Do I take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord?

Then turn to the life of Christ, and as you read, ask yourselves how far you are conformed to his likeness.

Endeavor to discover whether you have the meekness, the humility, the lovely spirit which he constantly inculcated and displayed.

Take, then, the epistles, and see whether you can go with the apostle in what he said of his experience.

Have you ever cried out as he did...“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Have you ever felt his self-abasement?

Have you seemed to yourself the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all saints?

Have you known anything of his devotion?

Could you join with him and say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”?

If we thus read God’s Word as a test of our spiritual condition, we shall have good reason to stop many a time and say, “Lord, I feel I have never yet been here, O bring me here!

Give me true penitence, such as this I read of.

Give me real faith; give me warmer zeal; inflame me with more fervent love; grant me the grace of meekness; make me more like Jesus.

Let me no longer be ‘found wanting,’ when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, lest I be found wanting in the scales of judgment.”

 Judge yourselves that ye be not judged.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Dwelling Safely Apart

Deut. 33:28  Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. 

The more we dwell alone, the more safe shall we be.

GOD would have His people separate from sinners, His call to them is, "Come ye out from among them."

A worldly Christian is spiritually diseased.

Those who compromise with Christ's enemies may be reckoned with them.

Our safety lies, not in making terms with the enemy, but in dwelling alone with our Best Friend.

If we do this, we shall dwell in safety despite the sarcasms, the slanders, and the sneers of the world. 

We shall be safe from the baleful influence of its unbelief, its pride, its vanity, its filthiness. 

GOD also will make us dwell in safety alone in that day when sin shall be visited on the nations by wars and famines.

The LORD brought Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, but Abram stopped halfway.

He had no blessing till, having set out to go to the land of Canaan, to the land of Canaan he came, He was safe alone even in the midst of foes.

Lot was not safe in Sodom though in a circle of friends.

Our safety is in dwelling apart with GOD.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Friday, June 10, 2016

Know The LORD In A Real Way




Php 1:9  And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

Personal, inward, spiritual intelligence is a very rare thing.

No wonder that the enemy has such a successful line in delusions, counterfeits, and false representations.

Our greatest safeguard against such will be a deep knowledge of the LORD through discipline.

To know the LORD in a real way means steadfastness when others are being carried away... steadfastness through times of fiery trial.

Those who know the LORD do not put forth their own hand and try to bring things about.

Such are full of love and patience, and do not lose their poise when everything seems to be going to pieces.

Confidence is an essential and inevitable fruit of this knowledge, and in those who know Him there is a quiet restful strength which speaks of a great depth of Life.

Let me point out that in Christ "are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden," and the LORD"S will for us is to come to an ever-growing realization and personal appreciation of Him in Whom all the fullness dwells. 

We have only stated facts as to the LORD'S will for all His own, and their greatest need.

The absence of this real knowledge of the LORD has proved to be the most tragic factor in the Church's history.

Every fresh uprising of an abnormal condition has disclosed the appalling weakness amongst Christian people because of this lack. 

Waves of error; the swing of the pendulum to some fresh popular acceptance; a great war with its horrors and many-sided tests of faith; all these have swept away multitudes and left them in spiritual ruin.

These things are ever near at hand, and we have written this message to urge upon the LORD'S people to have very definite dealings with Him that He will take every measure with them that they might know Him.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The War Was Of GOD

                                                                             
1Ch 5:22  For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.
 

Warrior, fighting under the banner of the LORD Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the  days of old so is it now, if the war be of GOD the victory is sure.

The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could barely muster five and forty thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagarites, they slew “men, an hundred thousand,”

For they cried to GOD in the battle, and he was entreated of them, because they put their trust in him.

The LORD saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah’s name if we be but a handful of men, for the LORD  of Hosts is with us for our Captain.

They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the LORD alone, for he is the sword and the shield of his people. 

The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that “the war was of GOD.”

Beloved, in fighting with sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil’s allies, you are waging Jehovah’s war, and unless He himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat.

Quail not before superior numbers, shrink not from difficulties or impossibilities, flinch not at wounds or death, smite with the twoedged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps.

The battle is the LORD'S and He will deliver his enemies into our hands.

With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil shall fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus! The strife will not be long; This day the noise of battle, The next the victor’s song:

To him that overcometh, A crown of life shall be; He with the King of glory Shall reign eternally.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Monday, June 6, 2016

Hedged In

James 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

James 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

GOD hedges in His own that He may preserve them, but oftentimes they only see the wrong side of the hedge, and so misunderstand His dealings.

It was so with Job...

Job 3:23  Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

Ah, but Satan knew the value of that hedge!

See his testimony in chapter 1:10.

Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Through the leaves of every trial there are chinks of light to shine through.

Thorns do not prick you unless you lean against them, and not one touches without His knowledge.

The words that hurt you, the letter which gave you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend, shortness of money - are all known to Him, who sympathizes as none else can and watches to see, if, through all, you will dare to trust Him wholly.
     
The hawthorn hedge that keeps us from intruding, Looks very fierce and bare When stripped by winter, every branch protruding
 

Its thorns that would wound and tear.
     
But spring-time comes; and like the rod that budded, Each twig breaks out in green;

And cushions soft of tender leaves are studded, Where spines alone were seen,
     
The sorrows, that to us seem so perplexing, Are mercies kindly sent To guard our wayward souls from sadder vexing, And greater ills prevent.
     
To save us from the pit, no screen of roses Would serve for our defense, The hindrance that completely interposes Stings back like thorny fence.
     
At first when smarting from the shock, complaining Of wounds that freely bleed, God's hedges of severity us paining, May seem severe indeed.
     
But afterwards, God's blessed spring-time cometh, And bitter murmurs cease;
     
The sharp severity that pierced us bloometh, And yields the fruits of peace.
     
Then let us sing, our guarded way thus wending Life's hidden snares among,
     
Of mercy and of judgment sweetly blending; Earth's sad, but lovely song.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

The Evil Tongue Is The Slanderous Tongue


Psa 50:20  Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
 

Slandering is when we speak to the prejudice of another, and speak that which is NOT TRUE.

Worth and eminency are commonly blasted by slander; holiness itself is no shield from slander:

Mat 11:18  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 

Come and let us smite him with the tongue. A slanderer wounds another's name, and no physician can heal these wounds.

The sword doth not make so deep a wound as the tongue. The Greek word for slanderer, signifies devil.

Some think it is no great matter to belie and defame another; but know, this is to act the part of a devil.

The slanderer's tongue is a two-edged sword, it wounds two at once; while the slanderer wounds another in his name, he wounds himself in his conscience.

This is contrary to Scripture, "Speak not evil one of another" (James 4:11).

GOD takes this ill at our hands, to speak evil of others, especially such as are eminently holy, and help to bear up the honor of religion: 

Were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (Numbers 12:8).

What! My servant who has wrought so many miracles-whom I have spoken with in the mount face to face...were not ye afraid to speak against him?

So will GOD say, You must take heed of this, it is a sin your nature is very prone to; and remember, it is no less sin to rob another of his good name, than to steal his goods or wares out of his shop. 

~Thomas Watson~

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Uncertainty, A Master-Stroke Of Satan.

                                                                                 
To prevent assurance of faith is the devil's own work, it is his aim to get the Lord's people unsettled; and doubt is one of his most subtle means of working. 

It was so in the beginning, "hath God said?" - Gen. 3:1, and it is still his method.

The way, and the only way, to frustrate this is by being established in the faith, Acts 16:5; Col. 2:7. "Stand fast in the faith." - 1 Cor. 16. 

A true heart in full assurance of faith. 

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Rev 2:13  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

The great need of God's people is to be established in the faith, not just established in doctrine, in an orthodox gospel, or by acquiring knowledge of fundamental truth, but established by an inward knowledge of our standing in the Lord Jesus on the ground of His finished work and complete triumph over the devil and all his works. 

So many of the Lord's children lack this assurance of their position in the Lord;

Yet it is written: Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. 

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 

This acceptance has to do with warfare, all things in our "so great salvation" are related to God's Eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

The people of God are robbed of their fighting power when the enemy has got them to doubt and question their standing in Christ.

God must build His city in certainty, and we must stand in the full assurance of faith. 

The foundations of the wall of the city were furnished with all manner of precious stones. 

Rev 21:19  And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Get the internal troubles settled, then you can get on with the work.

To be established in the faith with full assurance enables us to strike a blow at Principalities and Powers; but the devil and his hosts have much power where there is uncertainty, doubt, question.

When the believer knows the power of the personal "I know" because of full assurance in the Word of God, then that very knowledge is a weapon of defense against the enemy; hence he desires to prevent assurance by inserting doubt whenever he gets a chance. 

Stand on God's facts and not on the quicksands of your own feelings.

Some are doubting simply because of feelings!

Salvation is not a matter of feeling, it is God's fact - "It is written" God hath said

The word of God is "no condemnation".

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We are perfect in Christ the day we are born anew, that is as to our standing, we have good reason to be sorry for our state; but the word is "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Gal 4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

Yes it is to be a day by day growing in grace. 

Salvation seems for so many of God's children to be a matter of feelings, therefore there is no fighting force that counts against the enemy; 

They have not put on the whole armour of God so as to be "able to stand against the wiles of the enemy").

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

There is an assurance of faith which sets us free from all the power of the enemy and self as well; enabling us to endure and be strong in the Lord.

Having the ground of our salvation settled, we now have ground from which we can wield sovereignty in the Lord. 

Here we are passing through trial, adversity, sorrow, suffering, and we are tempted to think the Lord has given us up;

The enemy presses in on every side with accusation, condemnation, question, doubts, fears.

Be ye steadfast, unmovable, for beloved, this is the establishing principle at work, our faith is being exercised.

We know anguish, travail.

Remember the establishing work is done while our eyes are unto Him;

When things are against us, seeking to press us down, then we look off unto Jesus now in the presence of God for us, having all authority in heaven and on earth, and a NAME that is above every other name, a title of Sovereignty above every other title of sovereignty. 

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened (full of light), that ye may know HIM...

And what the exceeding greatness of HIS power to us-ward who believe according to that working (in-energizing) of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come;

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

This is the ONE unto whom our eyes are. 

Faith is thus exercised and enables us in the very midst of pressure and contradictory circumstances to rise upward and stand in Christ Jesus in the position He has given us, "seated together with Him in the heavenlies."

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

So through trial, the establishing work is done; it is the manifestation of His Victory over all the power and pressure of the enemy,

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, it is HIS victory, a life that has conquered death

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

The City of God is being built, and its very nature is Eternal life, indestructible life, this holds when we break down. 

He abides faithful. He still holds on because He is Eternal, unchangeable.

There is that with us that persists, that goes through,

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

It is the same with service; the conflict so great, the experiences through which we pass so strange and weird, so inexplicable, everything seems upside down, promises do not seem to be taking effect. 

Abraham in the land... yet the very promises given him of God seeming to be denied. Was Abraham mistaken? 

Are we not sometimes bewildered with the Lord, and are not His ways past finding out?

It all looks such a muddle, but as faith holds on, one day we shall praise Him, as we see the reason for it all afterwards;

Pro 4:18  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Note "PATH" not things!

These mysteries of the way contain some secret mystery of God; and are they not another opportunity to show forth His wisdom and power?

When all seems gone, the conflict so great, the experience so strange and there is no key to the situation; we are tempted to question whether the promises were even of God; everything is so contrary to what we expected, we begin to wonder if we are all wrong! 

Just then, is the time for us to stand fast in the Lord and maintain that stand in faith. 

After all, our experiences are very much alike. There is perplexity, there is apparent contradiction, there is conflict; the forms of experience may vary, but it comes to all of us in some way or another - still "He abideth faithful". 

How does this establish us? By the very helplessness of the situation, and ourselves, which causes us to cast ourselves upon Him, and it is then we prove Him.

You are coming to the place where you know the mystery of God, and it is a glorious opportunity for Him to show His wisdom and so you are established.

It is all a matter of endurance.

~T. Austin Sparks~