The Grace Of GOD And Money

                                                                                                        
If we have God's grace in us it will show itself in giving. If we want new grace, we must exercise what we have in giving. And in all we give we ought to do it in the consciousness of the grace of God that works it in us.

The Grace of God teaches to give liberally. "Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, for according to their power, yea, beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace." 2 Cor. 8:2. What a sight! And what a proof of the power of grace!  

These newly converted Gentiles in Macedonia hear of the need of their Jewish brethren in Jerusalem -- men unknown and despised -- and at once are ready to share with them what they have.
 
It is remarkable how much more liberality there is among the poor than the rich. 

It is as if they do not hold so fast what they have: they more easily part with all; the deceitfulness of riches has not hardened them; they have learned to trust God for tomorrow. 

Their liberality is not indeed what men count such; their gifts are but small. Men say it does not cost them much to give all; they are so accustomed to have little. And yet the very fact of their giving it more easily is what makes it precious to God; it shows the childlike disposition that has not yet learnt to accumulate and to hold fast.

God's way in His kingdom of grace on earth is ever from below, upwards. "Not many wise and not many noble are called. God has chosen the weak and the base things." And even so He has chosen the poor in this world, as they give out of their deep poverty, to teach the rich what liberality is.

Far beyond their power gave they of their own accord, beseeching us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift." If this spirit were to pervade our churches and men of moderate means and of large possessions were to combine with the poor in their standard of giving, and the Macedonian example became the law of Christian liberality, what means would not flow in for the service of the kingdom

The Grace of God makes our giving part of the Christlike life.

See that you abound in this grace also, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor." (8:9.)

Every branch and leaf and blossom of the mightiest oak derives its life from the same strong root that bears the stem. The life in the tiniest bud is the same as in the strongest branch.

We are branches in Christ the Living Vine; the very life that lived and worked in Him. Of what consequence that we should know well what His life is, that we may intelligently and willingly yield to it. 

Here we have one of its deepest roots laid open 

Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he become poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

To enrich and bless us, He impoverished Himself. 

That was why the widow's mite pleased Him so; her gift was of the same measure as His: She cast in all she had. 

This is the life and grace that seeks to work in us; there is no other mold in which the Christ-life can be cast. 

See that you abound in this grace also; for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, that he became poor.

How little did the Macedonian Christians know that they were, in their deep poverty, and in the riches of their liberality, giving beyond their power, just acting out what the Spirit and grace of Jesus was working in them. How little we would have expected that the simple gift of these poor people would become the text of such high and holy and heart-searching teaching.

How much we need to pray that the Holy Spirit may so master our purses and our possessions, that the grace of our giving will, in some truly recognizable degree, be the reflection of our Lord's.

And how we need to bring our giving to the cross, and to seek Christ's death to the world and its possessions as the power for ours.

So will we make others rich through our poverty, and our life be somewhat like St. Paul's: "poor, yet making many rich." 

~Andrew Murray~

SIGNATURE JUDGMENT

                                                                             
I believe God has provided us with a very specific promise for the hard times that are coming. It was given to Abraham and his seed as an oath.

The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life”
(Luke 1:73-75).

God has sworn to deliver us from every enemy, every fearful thing, so we can serve Him all the days of our lives without fear. Beloved, hunger is an enemy. Nakedness and poverty are enemies.

This oath from God must be the foundation of our trust in every crisis, calamity and fearful time. Memorize it! Let it be your holy argument at the throne of grace!

In Psalm 121 David has provided us with one of the most powerful Holy Ghost arguments ever given to man. The entire psalm tells us that all our help comes from the Lord alone.

Psalm 124 is yet another holy argument, your specific promise to enable you to build special trust.

Right now America is under a "signature judgment" of God. Signature judgments bear a special mark of God in that they mirror the sins committed against Him. As these judgments take place before our very eyes, our only answer is to have Jesus as our shield.

Run today to meet Him in the secret closet of prayer. 

Let your roots go down deep into Him and know that He will keep you in all circumstances.

Take hold of the following special promises in readiness for any and all calamities we may face:

Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart shall be established, he shall not be afraid
Psalm 112:4, 7-8.

And he shall judge the world in righteousness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them thatseek thee Psalm 9:8-10.

~David Wilkerson~

Right On Time

                                                    
Years ago, after walking the streets of New York City—worn out, tired in soul and body—I developed mononucleosis. I ended up in the hospital for six weeks and developed a growth in my throat. I could not swallow and sometimes I couldn't even catch my breath. My weight soon fell to less than 115 pounds. Since I could not travel, all the income to the ministry quickly dried up and it looked like the end of Teen Challenge!

I remember the night I cried out in desperation, "Lord, I give up! Teen Challenge is all Yours. I am just going to trust You. If You want the ministry’s doors to close, that's Your business. But, please, God, get this thing out of my throat!" Within an hour I coughed up a fleshy growth the size of a large walnut.  

I left the hospital in a day or two and soon got my strength back. And I discovered that while I was away, Teen Challenge had survived! I do not know how the Lord did it, but while I was ill, the staff began to trust the Lord instead of looking to me. And that's what God was trying to accomplish!  

Beloved, your troubles are not unforeseen accidents. No matter what you are going through, no matter how deep your hurt, God is right on target and right on time.  

You may think the devil came in and interrupted God's plan for your life, saying, "Let me at him." But no, that is not the case. It does not matter if you did something stupid or careless. If you have repented, the Lord can harness everything meant for evil and turn it around for good.  

Don't focus on your past mistakes—get your eyes off the monsters. God promised to restore to you all the years the cankerworm has eaten. Encourage yourself with these words and let them become your life and hope: "My God can do anything. He has not forgotten me. No one can change His plans

No matter how bad things look, He has everything under control!"

~David Wilkerson~

Is This The Generation?

                                                                          
The whole world is frightened, perplexed and confused. Even the saintliest Christian must be wondering about all the prophetic events rapidly unfolding. I know that believers all over the world are asking themselves a question that I, too, am pondering: Are we in the last decade of human history? I do not know, but one thing is sure: We have seen an acceleration of world events. Suddenly, without warning, the Iron Curtain fell. Almost overnight, Eastern Europe was free. Seemingly in a flash, the Soviet Empire—once threatening the United States—was brought to the brink of disintegration and utter turmoil.

Could it be that in the same sudden manner, the antichrist world leader will be revealed? Could it also be that God has come to the end of His patience with the sins of North America, as happened with Sodom and Gomorrah?

Frightening bankruptcies in our savings and loan organizations, mounting national debt, diseases and nationwide plagues—are these all signs that our country is entering the corridor of a divine curse as outlined in Deuteronomy 28? Read what God does to the nations that sin against the light. You can see it happening right now!

Are we already in the early stages of the biggest depression in our history? The Great Depression of the 1930s has been regarded as the worst ever, but many economists believe we are on the brink of a depression that will make our worst look tame by comparison.

Is God even now beginning to cut off our supply of bread? Is He bringing ruin upon us, as He did upon Jerusalem and Judah because of their sins? In Isaiah 3:1-6, you will find that God does cut off bread and massive unemployment results. When judgment fell in Zion, "there was no hire for man, nor any hire
for beast" (Zachariah 8:10). Will there be massive unemployment as God judges America's sins?

There is a sense of danger in the air; every situation seems volatile. There is a feeling that the world is on a course from which there is no turning back. There is talk of wars, race wars, holy wars. Israel is feverishly preparing for war as never before, gearing up for a final conflict.

Is this the day that Jesus predicted when men's hearts will fail from overwhelming fear as they behold the frightening things happening on the earth?

Could it be we really are the generation that will behold the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have we come to such a point in human history that it can now be said, "This generation shall not pass away till all these things come to pass"? 

Will it indeed happen in our time?

~David Wilkerson~

Let Go To GOD

                            

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.  

One of the most difficult lessons that the Lord's children have to learn is how to let go to God. Even in a matter that is right and in the purpose of God, there has to be the lessons which Abraham had to learn through Isaac.

It is not in our personal clinging to a God-given thing, whether it be a promise or a possession, but faith's restful and fear-free holding on to the Lord Himself.

If we had a thing from the Lord Himself we can rest assured that what He gives He will not take again without some larger purpose in view; and on the other hand, none can take from us what He has determined for us. But there are many dangers which arise from our own will in relation to a Divine gift or purpose.

The first is of making that thing ours instead of holding it in and for the Lord. This leads to fierceness and personal uprisings. Then jealousy will not be long in showing its ugly head, and jealousy with its twin – suspicion – soon destroy fellowship and spontaneity of communion.

Does not jealousy declare most loudly the fact of personal possession, personal interest?

If we realized how privileged we are to have even a very small part in the things of God, and how it is all of His Grace, surely we should be very grateful that we could just have the remotest connection with Him.

Then further, when we hold things received or as promised or believed to be for us as only unto the Lord, in restful trust, we make it possible for the Lord to save us from being mistaken in the matter.

It is not an unusual thing for a child of God to come to see that a thing which he or she most strongly believed to be God's will or way for them was not so, and it had to be surrendered. 

If there was any personal element of will in it the experience has proved terrible, and has left works of bitterness and mistrust.

Yet once again, a strong personal mind and will in relation to things of God too often makes us a law unto ourselves. That is, we get into an attitude which implies that we only know the will of God in the matter. We do not trust that others also may be led of the Lord in this thing, and so the corporateness of guidance so necessary to the house of God is destroyed or paralyzed.

~T. Austin Sparks~

 

WITNESSES

                                                                               
On judgment day the Judge, Jesus Christ, will call forth His witnesses and these will testify either for you or against you.

The first witness is the Word of God itself: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48).

For every sermon or gospel song ever heard, every Bible verse or tract ever read, account must be given.

Jesus says, "Every word I have spoken to you will judge you on that day. My Word will be the witness! Witnesses shall arise, such as the men of Nineveh, the men of Sodom, and the queen of Sheba.

Jesus says, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it" (Matthew 12:41-42).

When you stand before the Judge and your book is opened, vast multitudes of Ninevites will step forward. Those who died in the holocaust of Sodom and Gomorrah will come forth, as will those of Tyre and Sidon. These wicked ones will gather round, incredulous as they hear the list of all the opportunities you had to receive the Word of God: Bibles, radio, TV teachers, witnesses, friends, family.

They will cry out, "This man's judgment ought to be worse than ours. How could he reject so many opportunities and deny such powerful light? We had no Bible, no constant reminder, no second opportunity. But he had all this!"

Jesus says Sodom would have repented if they had heard a fraction of the gospel preaching you have heard: "For if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day"Matthew11:23.

Preachers and pastors will be called forth as witnesses. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matthew 24:14).

We shepherds will have to stand and bear witness that you were in attendance in the house of God. You heard the witness of the gospel preached. And we must affirm before the Judge of all people every truth you heard either for you or against you.

~David Wilkerson~
 

A FAITHFUL Servant

                                                                          
The apostle Paul was one of God's most faithful servants. I believe there were three important motivations behind Paul's faithfulness: hope, love and fear.

Paul had a blessed hope of eternal life that motivated him to faithfulness. He also had a great love for Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14 he says, "The love of Christ constraineth us," which means it compelled him to remain faithful to God. But Paul's faithfulness also was motivated by something else: the reverential fear of the hour when he would stand before the Judge of the world on judgment day!

Today, the vast majority of Christians possess only the first two motivations. Virtually every believer claims to have the hope of eternal life. And many say in all sincerity, "I know I love Jesus with all my heart."

Yet the Truth of a Coming Day of Judgment is the Very Thing that produces Serious, Godly Believers. 

Those who put it out of mind are usually cold, careless and indulgent.

But the fact remains that, sometime very soon, every person who has ever lived will be gathered to the place of judgment to be judged by Jesus Christ: 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10). 

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:12).

At this very moment, legions of angels stand ready for Jesus' command to gather from the corners of the earth both the wicked and the righteous:

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity (Matthew 13:41).

All the rich, famous and powerful of all ages will be brought to stand before Him:

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men . . . hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:15-17).


~David Wilkerson~

All That Is Earthly Is Being Shaken

                                                                             
In a dream I saw an army that refused to break rank for in the midst of all the wickedness and cruel violence that was around them, they were unperturbed.

They were going down into the Livings Waters Of Praise and Worship and coming out on the other side of the river with Perfect Peace and Rest. They are the redeemed of the Lord who have been given a peace that passes all understanding.

The meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace  
Psalm 37:11.

Joel saw an army of mighty men and said, "They shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks" (Joel 2:7).

God's people will not break rank nor run in fear, because they know they are secure under the precious blood of the Lamb. They know that in spite of all the violence and wrath of men, the body of Christ on earth is in excellent health and is growing stronger every day.

While all that is earthly is being shaken, and world governments are spinning out of control, the True Church Of Christ Is Solid And Unmovable.

The specter of devastating violence and potential destruction has robbed mankind of peace and security—while at the same time God is bringing His people into their greatest hour of rest and safety. While the ungodly cry for peace and safety and never find it, God's chosen are now possessing great peace and perfect security.

God's people who rest in Him can say with David the psalmist, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:2-8).

~David Wilkerson~

A Small Step

                                                                           
What a small, easy step it is from doubting a father's love to taking matters into our own hands. But what a tragic one!

The moment you force things according to your will, you expose your heart to an avalanche of evil.

The first thing that changed in Joseph's brothers after they began to doubt their father’s love was the way they talked. 

Listen to them: "Come, let's kill him. No, cast him into a pit. Better yet, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and make a little money!"  

Their hearts swelled with contempt and betrayal and out of those corrupted hearts burst a stream of wicked words—the language of the world.

Unholy speech is a sure sign of a hardened heart. 

Joseph's brothers became insensitive to sin and their corrupted conversation led to criminal behavior.

First they talked like the wicked and then they began to act like them. 

Before long, they became cold, calculating criminals. 

Not only did they sin, they covered it up and then went about their business of tending sheep as though nothing had happened.

How low we go when once we doubt our Father's love. 

How corrupt and insensitive we become. Malachi the prophet warned the children of Israel concerning the hardness of their hearts. Like Joseph's brothers, the Israelites had fallen prey to doubt and had wound up calloused to their sin.

The book of Malachi begins, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?" (Malachi 1:1-2).
 
Incredible! They dared to tell God, "We see no evidence in our lives that You love or care for us."

Show me a Christian who begins to doubt God's love and decides to take matters into his own hands, and I will show you a Christian whose conversation is becoming corrupted. 

Almost overnight there will be a noticeable change.

The more he doubts, the more unholy his speech will become.

Their words betray what is in their hearts: fear, unbelief, and despair. 

Throw off all evil, unbelieving thoughts.

Do not continue to doubt God’s great love!

~David Wilkerson~

The Sin That Makes GOD Cry

Let me give it to you straight—no beating around the bush and no soft-pedaling. The sin that makes God cry is being committed daily, not by pagan workers of iniquity but by multitudes of Christians the sin of doubting God's love for His children.

Do you think it makes God sound too human and vulnerable to say that He cries? Then ask yourself how a God of love could not cry when His own people doubt His very nature. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, and according to the book of John He wept when those closest to Him doubted His love and concern. That was God incarnate at the tomb of Lazarus, crying over friends who failed to recognize who He was.

Time and time again Christ's dearest associates on this earth doubted His love for them.

Think of the disciples in a storm-tossed boat that was taking on water. Jesus was in the stern of the boat, sound asleep. Fearing for their lives, His followers shook Him awake and then accused Him of outright unconcern. Master, carest thou not that we perish? (Mark 4:38).

How their accusation must have grieved the Lord! That was God Almighty in their boat! How could He not care?

But whenever men take their eyes off the Lord and concentrate instead on their circumstances, doubt always takes over. 

Jesus  was astounded!"How can you be afraid when I am with you? How can you question My love and care?"

Christians today grieve the Lord in this matter even more.

Our unbelief is a greater affront to Him than the unbelief of Mary, Martha, and all the disciples, for our sin is committed against greater light. 

We stand on a higher mountain and see more than they could ever see. We have a completed Bible with a full and detailed record of God's trustworthiness. We have the written testimonies of almost twenty centuries of Christians, generation after generation of godly fathers who have passed down to us unshakable proofs of God's love. And we have countless personal experiences that testify to God's tender love and affection for us.

Let us look for His exceeding mercy and love, admit the sinfulness of our unbelief, and recognize who He is!

~David Wilkerson~

Focused Faith

                                                                              
Jesus prayed to the Father: "All mine are thine, and thine are mine; I am glorified in them" (John 17:10). "The love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (verse 26).

Jesus makes it very clear: When we are one with Him, we enjoy the very same love of the Father that He enjoys. God delights in us as much as He does in His own Son.

The Bible also tells us God is our Father, just as He is Christ's Father. Jesus testified: "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (John 20:17).

So, how hard are you striving to please God? Do you go through seasons in which you feel you are delighting Him? And do you have "low" seasons when you feel you are displeasing Him?

Beloved, you have to put facts ahead of your feelings. And the fact is, God's pleasure in you has nothing to do with your strivings, intensity, good intentions or actions. No, it all has to do with your faith.

I believe God wants us to have what I call a "focused faith" that says, "All your faith may be focused on the principle that if you wish to stand holy before God, you must come to Him in Christ."

The writer of Hebrews warns against having ". . . an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). This is an issue of faith! When we move away from the foundational doctrine of being accepted by God through Christ, we are turning back to the law, the flesh and spiritual bondage!

We which have believed do enter into rest . . . For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (4:3,10). Scripture makes it clear: The evidence of faith is rest.

The only way to bring your striving, sweating, troubled soul into peace is to convince yourself, "I am in Christ and I am accepted by God. He delights in me, regardless of whether I am up or down. No matter how I feel, I know my position in Christ—that I am seated with Him in heavenly places!"

~David Wilkerson~



 

The Heavenly Calling

                            

Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

That heavenly calling is never negative, never neutral, never passive, but always positive. You may not have very much in your daily life to make the calling seem positive.

It may be you go to business in the morning and fulfill your daily work, the trivial round, the common task, as we say, with very little variety entering into it. It is the same round day after day, week after week, month after month; the same people, the same surroundings, the same activities very largely.

Only on the rarest occasion does something especially interesting come into the daily course. It would be so easy in a situation like that to say: "Well, in my sphere of life there is not much of the glamor of a heavenly calling! My work is plain and simple. I have just to get on with it every day, and I see very little else beyond it." Remember that at all times, in all circumstances, the calling is positive.

Every day will provide some opportunity for you to learn spiritual ascendancy; some occasion for you to bring in the value of your relationship with the Lord; to put to the test the resources which you have in Christ; to grow in grace; to know victories.

How do you know but that in that very uninteresting, perhaps unpromising sphere of life you are on test on some of those great matters, such as faith, patience, or patient endurance?

It would be interesting to know exactly what the throne of the Lord is made of. When we come to that throne, I wonder whether we shall find a throne of gold in a literal sense, or whether we shall find it made up of many things?

When we come to analyze the throne we may find that it is made up of patience, faith, endurance, and all such moral elements, and that these elements constitute the power by which He governs. 

It is sharing the patience of Jesus Christ which is sharing the throne. There is something mighty in the ultimate outworking of the patience of Jesus, the faith of Jesus Christ, the endurance. These are the constituents of His throne. He is working throne elements into us now in the drab, uninteresting life day by day. 

You may be on test for the throne.  

There may be bound up with the least interesting course of life some very, very real intention of the Lord.

Let us remember that the heavenly calling is always positive, in all circumstances, in all places. We are on test for the throne, as to whether it shall function through us both here and hereafter.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Burden Of Hidden Sin

                                                                                                                                                           
The burden of hidden sin King David carried for an entire year cost him dearly. It broke his health, plagued his mind and wounded his spirit. It created havoc in his home,disillusionment in God's people, mockery among the godless. Finally, he cried out, "I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me" (Psalm 38:17). The Hebrew word for halt here means "fall." He was saying, "I am about to fall from this heavy load of sorrow."

Some Christians might look at David in his time of turmoil and think, "What a tragedy Satan was able to bring upon David. How could this once-tender psalmist come to the brink of a fall? God must have been terribly angry with him."

No! It was not the devil who made David's sin so heavy, it was God. In His great mercy, God allowed this man to sink to the depths, because He wanted him to see the magnitude of his sin. He made David's unconfessed sin so heavy, he could no longer bear it and he was driven to repentance.

The truth is, only a righteous man like David could be so powerfully affected by his sin. You see, his conscience was still tender and he felt the sharp pains of every arrow of conviction God thrust into his heart. That's why David could say, "My sorrow is continually before me."

That is the secret of this whole story: David had a godly sorrow, a deep and precious fear of God. He could admit, "I see the Lord's disciplining hand in this, pressing me down to my knees, and I acknowledge that my sin deserves His wrath.”

The writer of Lamentations says, "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. He hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me. He hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone" (Lamentations 3:1-9).

The writer's point is clear: When we live with hidden sin, God Himself makes our chains so heavy, chaotic and terrifying, we are driven to open confession and deep repentance.

~David Wilkerson~

Is Your LOVE Alive?

                                                                              
If you can go about your daily life facing all sorts of interruptions and demands, and yet not spend ten minutes in God's presence, your love is dying.

Think about it: If you love someone exclusively above all others, you will make that person feel he is the most important being on earth. Everything else will pale in comparison to him.

Is this not how you first loved your spouse when you were courting? If she called while you were busy, you dropped everything just to talk to her. If anyone intruded on your time alone together, you resented it. Everything else took second place in your efforts to develop the love between you.

Many Christians today go for weeks, even months, without spending quality time with Jesus. 

How can they love Jesus with a whole heart when they neglect Him for days on end?

In Song of Solomon, the bride could not sleep because her beloved ". . . had withdrawn himself . . ." (Song of Solomon 5:6). This woman arose in the middle of the night, saying, "My soul failed . . . I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer" (same verse). So she quickly ran
into the streets, looking everywhere for her lover, crying out, "Have you seen my beloved?"

Why was this such a serious matter to her? Because, as she said, "This is my beloved, and this is my friend" (verse 16). "I am sick of love [faint with desire for him]" (verse 8). She could not be without her beloved.

How does Jesus feel when He spreads the table and anxiously awaits our company,yet we never show up? The Bible calls us His bride, His beloved, His one great love. It says we were created for fellowship with Him.

 So, what kind of rejection must He feel when we continually put others before Him?

~David Wilkerson~