God Routs Fear

Num 23:23  Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

How this should cut up root and branch all silly, superstitious fears!

Even if there were any truth in witchcraft and omens, they could not affect the people of the LORD. 

Those whom God blessed, devils cannot curse.
 
Ungodly men, like Balaam, may cunningly plot the overthrow of the LORD's Israel; but with all their secrecy and policy they are doomed to fail.

Their powder is damp; the edge of their sword is blunted. 

They gather together; but as the LORD is not with them, they gather together in vain. 

We may sit still and let them weave their nets, for we shall not be taken in them.

Though they call in the aid of Beelzebub and employ all his serpentine craft, it will avail them nothing...

The spells will not work, the divination will deceive them. 

What a blessing this is! 

How it quiets the heart! 

God's Jacobs wrestle with God, but none shall wrestle with them and prevail. 

God's Israels have to prevail against them. 

We need not fear the fiend himself, nor any of those secret enemies whose words are full of deceit and whose plans are deep and unfathomable.

They cannot hurt those who trust in the living God. 

We defy the devil and all his legions.

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Fervent Hatred

A good Christian is a good hater. "You who love the Lord...hate evil." 

This is an age of toleration. 

Almost any false doctrine may be preached while many of the religious teachers of so-called orthodoxy, plod on their way indifferently. 

Error thrives, a multitude of souls are deceived, but many seem but little concerned.

Evil raises its head everywhere and sneers at the Christian people. 

Dens of vice, gambling-houses, lewd picture-shows, and a hundred other forms of evil are tolerated and even looked upon as "necessary evils" by religious professors. 

But he who really loves God,,,just as truly hates ALL evil. 

He so hates it in himself, that he will give it no place in his heart or life. 

He hates it in others. 

He sees no pleasant thing in it. 

To him it is foul, vile, and revolting! 

Sin is his enemy and he is its bitter foe. 

The measure of his love for good, is the measure of his hatred for evil. 

We cannot love the good, more than we hate the evil. 

The two exactly balance in our lives.

A burning love, a burning zeal, and a burning hatred will make your life as a beacon-light to the world. 

If you would be a true example of what God means men to be...you must have this fervency in your life. 

It alone can keep you from coldness. 

It alone can make you a prosperous, victorious Christian!

~Charles Naylor~

A Furnace And A Torch

Gen 15:17  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
     
Fire is the chosen emblem of God; and as these fire-emblems passed slowly between the divided carcasses it was as though God accommodated Himself to the methods of human oath-taking, and solemnly bound Himself. 

But in all His dealings with us He is prepared to be both a furnace and a torch.
     
God as a Furnace. 

Take up a piece of iron ore, and see how the metal is scattered amid commoner substances. 

How can it be disintegrated? 

The chisel cannot do it, but fire will. 

Plunge it now into the fire; let it fall in the heart of the glowing furnace, and presently the stream of liquid metal will issue forth, pure and beautiful.

It is thus that God deals with human hearts; the blood makes propitiation, but the fire cleanses.

The love of God, the purity of God, the spirituality of God brought home to us by the Holy Ghost, search and try us to the innermost fibre of our being, and burn out of us the evils which had long held empire.
     
Refining Fire, go through my heart, Illuminate my soul; Scatter thy life through every part, And sanctify the whole.
     
God as a flaming Torch. 

The torch guides the footsteps through the dark; and God's Spirit waits to shed light on many dark and hidden things, and to guide us into all the truth. 

It is one thing to comprehend by the intellect; it is altogether another to apprehend by the heart. 

There is no such teacher as God...

And the mistake of our modern religious life is to receive so much from man, instead of waiting in rapt silence until God Himself communicates His truth to us. 

The conditions are purity of desire, cleanness of heart, and willingness to obey.

~F. B. Meyer~

There Is A Division Between Light And Darkness

Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Light might well be good for the very reason that it sprang from the goodness of God who said, “Let there be light.”

We who enjoy it should be more grateful for it than we are, and see more of God in it and by it.

Physical light is wonderful, but the light of the Gospel is infinitely more precious...

For it reveals eternal things and ministers to our immortal natures. 

When the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual light and opens our eyes to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,...

We begin to see sin in its true colors and ourselves in our true condition...

We see everything more from God’s perspective.

O Lord, thank You for the light You give...

And give us more of Yourself, the true light.

Now whenever there is something good in the world, a division becomes necessary. 

Light and darkness have nothing in common...

God has divided them, so we should never confuse them. 

Sons of light must not have fellowship with deeds, doctrines, or deceits of darkness. 

The children of the day must be sober, honest, and bold in their Lord’s work, leaving the works of darkness to those who will live in it forever. 

Our Churches should divide the light from the darkness through discipline...

And we should by our distinct separation from the world do the same.

In every area of life, we must discern between the precious and the vile,...

And maintain the great distinction that the Lord made upon the world’s first day.

O Lord Jesus, be our light today, for Your light is the light of men.

~Charles Spurgeon~

We Are A NEW Creation

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

The Word teaches us very clearly that Christ has been taken right out of this old creation and set at God's right hand in the heavenlies. 

On the other hand, it shows us that His being there, and our being in spiritual union with Him, means that for all spiritual purposes and resources, we also are in the heavenlies in Christ....

Let us ask the Lord to give us a real, spiritual, quick, living apprehension of this great truth concerning our Lord Jesus...

The great realm of the new creation into which we are brought...

And let us apply it...

Practice it...

Put it into operation from day to day.

You may have to go into a place where there is not much spiritual wealth on the outside...

Not much upon which to feed. 

Remember you have Christ, the whole Land, lying before you. 

You may have to go into scenes where there is anything but rest, spiritual rest;...

Where all is fret, care, drive, strain. 

Remember that you are in the Land...

You are in Christ...

You have Him as your Rest.

You may have to go into the conflict...

Into the battle...

Into the tremendous activities of the enemy to overthrow you.

Remember you are in Christ, Who is Victory, complete, final victory. 

That remains true, whatever the enemy may say about it. 

Christ is all that we need for a life which is glorifying to Him.

It is what Christ is, what we have in the new creation.

~T. Austin Sparks~