God Is In The Front Line

                                                    

In the presence of a great work or a great warfare, here is a text which should help us to buckle on our harness.

If Jehovah Himself goes before us, it must be safe to follow. 

Who can obstruct our progress if the LORD Himself is in the van?

Come, brother soldiers, let us make a prompt advance! 

Why do we hesitate to pass on to victory?

Nor is the LORD before us only...

He is with us.

Above, beneath, around, within is the omnipotent, omnipresent One. 

In all time, even to eternity, He will be with us even as He has been. 

How this should nerve our arm! 

Dash at it boldly, ye soldiers of the cross, for the LORD of hosts is with us!

Being before us and with us, He will never withdraw His help. 

He cannot fail in Himself, and He will not fail toward us.

He will continue to help us according to our need, even to the end. 

As He cannot fail us, so He will not forsake us. 

He will always be both able and willing to grant us strength and succor till fighting days are gone.

Let us not fear nor be dismayed...

For the LORD of hosts will go down to the battle with us...

Will bear the brunt of the fight...

And give us the victory. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

There Is No Such Thing As "Chance," "Luck," Or "Accident" In The Christian's Journey Through This World!

Luke 12:4  And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Luke 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Luke 12:6  Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Luke 12:7  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

The last thing that demands our attention in these verses, is Christ's encouragement to persecuted believers. 

He reminds them of God's providential care over the least of His creatures: 

Not one sparrow is forgotten by God!

He goes on to assure them that the same Fatherly care is engaged on behalf of each one of themselves: "The very hairs of your head are all numbered!" 

The providential government of God over everything in this world is a truth of which the Greek and Roman philosophers had no conception.

It is a truth which is especially revealed to us in the Word of God. 

Just as the telescope and microscope show us that there is order and design in all the works of God's hand, from the greatest planet down to the least insect...

So does the Bible teach us that there is wisdom, order, and design in all the events of our daily life.  

There is no such thing as "chance," "luck," or "accident" in the Christian's journey through this world!

If we profess to be believers in Jesus Christ...then all is arranged and appointed by God. 

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Let us seek to have an abiding sense of God's hand in all that befalls us. 

Let us strive to realize that our Father's hand is measuring out our daily portion...

And that our every step is ordered by Him.
 
A daily practical faith of this kind, is one grand secret of happiness and a mighty antidote against murmuring and discontent!

We should try to feel in the day of trial and disappointment--that all is right, and that all is well done. 

We should try to feel on the bed of sickness that there must be a "needs be" for it. 

We should say to ourselves, "God could keep these afflictions away from me...if He thought fit."

But He does not do so, and therefore they must be for my advantage.

I will lie still, and bear them patiently. 

Whatever pleases God- shall please me!

Nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer without God's ordering and permission.

~J. C. Ryle~

A Subtle Leaven Which The Heart Is Always Ready To Receive!

Luke 12:1  In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Luke 12:2  For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

The first thing that demands our attention in these verses, is Christ's warning against hypocrisy.

This is a warning of which the importance can never be overrated. 

It was delivered by our Lord more than once, during His earthly ministry.

It was intended to be a standing caution to His whole church in every age, and in every part of the world.

It was meant to remind us that the principles of the Pharisees are deeply ingrained in human nature--and that Christians should be always on their guard against them.

Hypocrisy is a subtle leaven which the heart is always ready to receive! 

It is a leaven which once received into the heart, infects the whole character of a man's Christianity. 

Of this leaven, says our Lord, in words that should often ring in our ears-...of this leaven, Beware!

Let us ever nail this caution in our memories, and bind it on our hearts. 

The plague is around us on every side! 

The danger is at all times.

What is the essence of Romanism, and formalism, and ceremonialism?

What is it all, but the leaven of the Pharisees under one shape or another? 

The Pharisees are not extinct!  

Pharisaism lives still.

If we would not become Pharisees--then let us cultivate a 'heart religion'.

Let us realize daily that the God with whom we have to do, looks far below the outward surface of our profession, and that He measures us by the state of our hearts. 

Let us be real and true in our Christianity.

Let us abhor all part-acting, and affectation, and semblance of devotion--put on for public occasions, but not really felt within.

Our hypocrisy may deceive man, and get us the reputation of being very religious--but it cannot deceive God.

For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be made known.

Whatever we are in religion--let us never wear a cloak or a mask of religion.

Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

~J. C. Ryle~

“Grieve Not The Holy Spirit.”

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
 
All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. 

Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit.

Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except he worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure.
 
Do you desire to speak for Jesus...how can you unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue?
 
Do you desire to pray? Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession for you! 

Do you desire to subdue sin? 

Would you be holy? 

Would you imitate your Master?

Do you desire to rise to superlative heights of spirituality?

Are you wanting to be made like the angels of God, full of zeal and ardor for the Master’s cause? 

You cannot without the Spirit..."Without me ye can do nothing."

O branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap! 

O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through his Spirit! 

Then let us not grieve him or provoke him to anger by our sin.

Let us not quench him in one of his faintest motions in our soul; 

Let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting.

If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without him;

Let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring his blessing.

Let us do him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from him...

And then depending alone upon him, having this for our prayer, “Open thou my heart and my whole being to thine incoming, and uphold me with thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts.”

~Charles Spurgeon

Weapons Doomed To Fail

                                               

There is great clatter in the forges and smithies of the enemy. 

They are making weapons wherewith to smite the saints. 

They could not even do as much as this if the LORD of saints did not allow them...

For He has created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. 

But see how busily they labor!

How many swords and spears they fashion!

It matters Nothing, for on the blade of every weapon you may read this inscription: "It Shall Not Prosper". 

But now listen to another noise: It is the Strife Of Tongues. 

Tongues are more Terrible Instruments than can be made with hammers and anvils...

And the evil which they inflict cuts deeper and spreads wider. 

What will become of us now?

Slander, falsehood, insinuation, ridicule-these are Poisoned arrows; how can we meet them?

The LORD God promises us that, if we cannot silence them, we shall, at least, escape from being ruined by them. 

They condemn us for the moment, but we shall condemn them at last and Forever. 

The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped...

And their falsehoods shall be turned to the honor of those good men who suffered by them.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Lie Still and Trust

Psa 27:13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

FAINT NOT!

How great is the temptation at this point!

How the soul sinks, the heart grows sick, and the faith staggers under the keen trials and testings which come into our lives in times of special bereavement and suffering.

I cannot bear up any longer, I am fainting under this providence. 

What shall I do?

God tells me not to faint. 

But what can one do when he is fainting?

What do you do when you are about to faint physically? 

You cannot do anything. 

You cease from your own doings.

In your faintness, you fall upon the shoulder of some strong loved one.

You lean hard. 

You rest. 

You lie still and trust.

It is so when we are tempted to faint under affliction.

God's message to us is not, "Be strong and of good courage," for He knows our strength and courage have fled away.

But it is that sweet word, "Be still, and know that I am God."

Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life that he wrote a dear friend: I am so weak I cannot write; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray.

I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child, and trust.

This wondrous man of God with all his spiritual power came to a place of physical suffering and weakness where he could only lie still and trust.

He said He will hide thee Beneath His wing;

And sweetly there in safety Thou mayest sing.

~Selected~

Daily Fellowship With GOD

                                                                              
1. The first and chief need of our Christian life is, Fellowship with God.

The Divine life within us comes from God, and is entirely dependent upon Him.

As I need every moment afresh the air to breathe, as the sun every moment afresh sends down its light, so it is only in direct living communication with God that my soul can be strong.

The manna of one day was corrupt when the next day came.

I must every day have fresh grace from heaven, and I obtain it only in direct waiting upon God Himself. 

Begin each day by tarrying before God, and letting Him touch you. 

Take time to meet God.

2. To this end, let your first act in your devotion be a setting yourself still before God.

In prayer, or worship, everything depends upon God taking the chief place.

I must bow quietly before Him in humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within my heart: God is. God is near. 

God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me. 

God the Almighty One, Who worketh all in all, is even now waiting to work in me, and make Himself known.

Take time, till you know God is very near.

3. When you have given God His place of honor, glory, and power, take your place of deepest lowliness, and seek to be filled with the Spirit of humility.

As a creature it is your blessedness to be nothing, that God may be all in you. 

As a sinner you are not worthy to look up to God; bow in self abasement. 

As a saint, let God's love overwhelm you, and bow you still lower down. 

Sink down before Him in humility, meekness, patience, and surrender to His goodness and mercy.

He will exalt you. Oh! take time, to get very low before God.

4. Then accept and value your place in Christ Jesus.

God delights in nothing but His beloved Son, and can be satisfied with nothing else in those who draw nigh to Him. 

Enter deep into God's holy presence in the boldness which the blood gives, and in the assurance that in Christ you are most well-pleasing.

In Christ you are within the veil.

You have access into the very heart and love of the Father.

This is the great object of fellowship with God, that I may have more of God in my life, and that God may see Christ formed in me. 

Be silent before God and let Him bless you.

5. This Christ is a living Person. He loves you with a personal love, and He looks every day for the personal response of your love.

Look into His face with trust, till His love really shines into your heart.

Make His heart glad by telling Him that you do love Him.

He offers Himself to you as a personal Saviour and Keeper from the power of sin. 

Do not ask, can I be kept from sinning, if I keep close to Him? but ask, can I be kept from sinning, if He always keeps close to me? and you see at once how safe it is to trust Him.

6. We have not only Christ's life in us as a power, and His presence with us as a person, but we have His likeness to be wrought into us.

He is to be formed in us, so that His form or figure, His likeness, can be seen in us. 

Bow before God until you get some sense of the greatness and blessedness of the work to be carried on by God in you this day. 

Say to God, Father, here am I for Thee to give as much in me of Christ's likeness as I can receive.

And wait to hear Him say, My child, I give thee as much of Christ as thy heart is open to receive.

The God who revealed Jesus in the flesh, will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him.

The Father loves the Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in thee.

Count upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou waitest on thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.

7. The likeness to Christ consists chiefly in two things-the likeness of His death and resurrection, (Rom 6:5). 

The death of Christ was the consummation of His humility and obedience, the entire giving up of His life to God.

In Him we are dead to sin.

As we sink down in humility and dependence and entire surrender to God, the power of His death works in us, and we are made conformable to His death. 

And so we know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the victory over sin, and all the joy and power of the risen life. 

Therefore every morning, present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. 

He will maintain the life He gave, and bestow the grace to live as risen ones.

8. All this can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. 

Count upon Him to glorify Christ in you. 

Count upon Christ to increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit. 

As you wait before God to realize His presence, remember that the Spirit is in you to reveal the things of God. 

Seek in God's presence to have the anointing of the Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be spiritual.

9. As you meditate on this wondrous salvation and seek full fellowship with the great and Holy God, and wait on Him to reveal Christ in you, you will feel how needful the giving up of all is to receive Him. 

Seek grace to know what it means to live as wholly for God as Christ did.

Only the Holy Spirit Himself can teach you what an entire yielding of the whole life to God can mean.

Wait on God to show you in this what you do not know.

Let every approach to God, and every request for fellowship with Him be accompanied by a new, very definite, and entire surrender to Him to work in you.

10. By faith must here, as through all Scripture, and all the spiritual life, be the keynote.

As you tarry before God, let it be in a deep quiet faith in Him, the Invisible One, who is so near, so holy, so mighty, so loving. 

In a deep, restful faith too, that all the blessings and powers of the heavenly life are around you, and in you.

Just yield yourself in the faith of a perfect trust to the Ever Blessed Holy Trinity to work out all God's purpose in you. 

Begin each day thus in fellowship with God, and God will be all in all to you.

~Andrew Murray~

What Does The Arm Of The Lord Imply?

We all want to have His support, His upholding, His strength.

To have the Lord with us, alongside of us, with all His gracious and infinite power exercised on our behalf, is, after all, the most important thing in life...

Not only for us as Christians individually, but for the Church, and for the whole work of the Lord.

But have we really thought as to what we mean by this?

What do we expect?

Is it just the bare support of the Lord, to get us through, to carry us over, to see that we do not collapse on the way?

When we see somebody standing fearfully by the side of the road, afraid to step out and cross, we sometimes offer an arm:

We say, 'Let me give you an arm and see you over' - an arm!

Well, the arm is a support; it helps to the other side.

Is that all we want from the Lord?

We do not always speak about the Arm of the Lord; we often express it in other ways.

We ask for grace; we ask for sufficiency; we ask for many other things;

But it is all included in the Arm of the Lord. 

What is it that we are really seeking?

Now, what does the Word of God show to be the meaning of this support, this Arm of the Lord? 

Before I answer that question, let me pause to say that this is a matter of the most far-reaching importance and application.

I am not at this time at all concerned with merely giving Bible studies.

There is a very great practical background to all that is presented here.

There is coming daily into one's life an almost continuous, unbroken demand for help in the problems of Christian lives...

The problems of churches, the problems of Christian relationships; sometimes it seems almost day and night, without cessation.

And letters are continually coming...sometimes very long letters from assemblies of God's people in different places...

Telling of the deplorable conditions in those assemblies, with all their frustration, limitation, disappointment, even deadlock and defeat, and asking for counsel and advice as to what is to be done.

It is over against this background of real and urgent need that these messages are presented.

I want to stress that there is something very practical in this.

For after all, it just amounts to one thing: Where is the Lord?

Just that: Where is the Lord?

Where shall we find the Lord?

How are we going to know the Lord is unreservedly with us?

And that contains this further serious question: 

How far is the Lord able to support this and that...to come in and undertake, to show His power, show Himself mighty?

That really is the heart of the whole matter.

Is there a limitation upon the Lord, that He cannot do these things, because of certain obstacles?

It is of supreme importance, then, that we should know and understand the ground on which the Lord will show His mighty Arm in these days...

On behalf of His people...

On behalf of His Church...

On behalf of His work...

When, therefore, we ask the question: What does it really mean for the Arm of the Lord to be revealed?

We find in the Word of God two or three things, holding a very large place there, in many forms of expression, which answer that question.

But first may l pause again to say, in parenthesis, that the message of Isaiah 53 is the answer to everything!

Perhaps we think we know Isaiah 53; perhaps we could even recite it.

I venture to suggest that we know very little about that chapter.

It is the most comprehensive chapter in the whole Bible.

If we were able to read it with real spiritual comprehension, we should find that, in that one chapter, all our questions are answered; all our needs are met; all our problems are solved! 

The Bible is comprehended by Isaiah 53, and in what follows I am keeping within the compass of that chapter. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

A Certain Woman Once Called Upon Her Clergyman To Tell Him How Distressed Her Mind Was

                                                            
A certain woman once called upon her clergyman to tell him how distressed her mind was. 

He received her with all tenderness, and inquired into the cause of her distress. 

She went on to say that her mind was very much troubled indeed, but she did not know how to tell him. 

The clergyman judging that it must be something serious, urged her to be explicit upon the subject of her trouble.

At last she said, "It is the length of your neckties, sir...when in the pulpit."

Oh, he said, "the length of my neckties is what distresses you?"

I will take care that this shall be a source of distress to you no more.

So fetching his neckties, he said, "Here is a pair of scissors, cut them to your wish."

After she had done this she thanked him, and professed to feel her mind relieved.

Well, my friend, said he, "I may tell you that my mind has also been much troubled, perhaps even more than yours."

Oh, sir, I am sorry for that. 

What, sir, has distressed your mind so?

He replied, "It is the length of your tongue!"

And now, as one good turn deserves another, you will allow as much to be cut off as will reduce it to its proper length!

She was speechless and learned an important lesson.

James 5:9  Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.