The FATAL Race

                                                                                
The word race suggests competition and in Hebrews 12:1, God’s people are likened to runners in a long-distance race. Today, the race has been corrupted and the prize has become carnal.

If we could spend just a few minutes in heaven, we would never again compete in a carnal race. If only we could experience a short walk within the gates of that city of God; drink in the peace, the beauty, the heavenly splendors; listen to the grand choirs of angels singing the glories of the Lord; mingle with the patriarchs, the martyrs, the apostles, those who came out of great tribulation; visit with departed loved ones; feel the glow of God's holy light; and best of all, catch a glimpse of the face of the resurrected Lamb of God and feel the glory and warmth and sense of security shining forth from His presence!

Would we ever come back to this earth and take up the fatal race again? Never! You and I would live only for the Lord, rejecting the world and all its pleasures and carnal things. We would run His race!

If we could spend even a few minutes in hell, we would never be the same. Imagine what it would be like to be drawn into that black furnace of fire and everlasting darkness; to suddenly be cast into a demonic world of godlessness, cursing, hatred, lust, and corruption; to hear the groans of the eternally damned and witness their terror, their gnashing teeth; to rub shoulders with the workers of iniquity, the crucifiers of the Lord Jesus; to listen to the endless sounds of hopeless, useless prayers of the damned, shaking their fists at the God of justice, cursing the day they were born; to feel what being lost means, cut off from God and truth and love and peace and all comfort.

How could you return to earth from your short visit to hell and ever be the same again? Would you go back to neglecting God's Word, His house, His love? Would you go about your selfish pursuits of accumulating, hoarding gold and silver, and praying for even more? I hardly think so. No, you and I would live every hour as if it were our last.

Do you want to quit running and beating the air in vain? Set your face and heart to seek the Lord as never before!

~David Wilkerson~
 

The Purpose Of Delay

Now in Genesis chapter 15 you have the promise, and although it does not look like it, since the story is so quickly got over, it seems that it was at least fifteen years before the promise was fulfilled. It was fourteen or fifteen years at least, but how much more we cannot say as the Hebrew is very uncertain in this matter.

You remember when the men came to Abram's tent and ratified the promise, their words in our translation are something like this: "at the time" or "about the time", or "in the season" Gen. 18:14. The words are very indefinite. Some have translated it, "This time next year it shall be", but we cannot render it so with certainty. 

All we can say is that it was a definite ratification of the promise, that in God's appointed time it should be fulfilled. That ratification in the tent was some fourteen or fifteen years after the events of chapter 15 when the promise was given.

Now, taking every other circumstance into consideration; promise, age, and so on, you can see that this was a real matter of faith, this time factor. The time is getting on. We are getting farther and farther away from any possibility of fulfilment. Abram was ninety and nine years old when this ratification of the promise was made. 

You see the time factor was a real test. 

Moreover it was a deliberate and definite movement of God.

Why did not the Lord, knowing what He would do, wait until He was about to do it and just come and say, Abram, this shall be! and bring it about? But no! He came, announced it, and went away, and year after year passed by.

Then He came again, ratified His promise, and upon that there was still more waiting.

The Lord has strange ways. He deals with us like that. 

He must bring His instruments into oneness with Himself.

There is a little phrase in the New Testament which runs like this: "When once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah". If that word means anything it means that delay.

In a case like that of Abram's, it is not a pleasant thing for Abram, not a thing that he would choose for himself.

It would at least imply that if the Lord could have His way He would perfect His purpose at once.

Long-suffering, forbearance, patience, endurance; these things on God's part are not the things that He would choose in carrying out His purposes, seeing all the suffering, and the distress and the pain that there is.

But He suffered, and suffered long, and His instruments must come into oneness with Him, oneness with His heart.

The point is that it lifts this thing on to a certain level. It is not that the Lord is just dealing with you and with me like a schoolmaster, trying to get something in us.

It may be the Lord wants moral qualities developed in us; patience, longsuffering, and so on; there is no doubt that is true, but it is not just that.

The Lord is saying, I am not going to do this until you show signs of certain qualities.

The Lord is lifting us right up on to the same level as Himself, bringing us into actual oneness with Himself, so that we have the same feeling towards others and toward the situation, toward the need, that He has.

I believe that when the Lord can get a corporate cry in His Church which is His own cry, then His time has come.

The Lord is not just waiting for a time. There is something bound up with that time, and He is seeking to produce in the heart of His instrument that which is in His own heart, so that it cries one cry with Him.

The Church has to cry, and it has to cry God's cry, and that one cry is not yet in the Church.

There are many voices, conflicting voices; and by the agony of delay, and the agony of the growing impossibility of the situation, and by the agony of the need for that which is of God as over against all this other, the Church will be brought to cry that cry.

At midnight there shall be a cry! Now that is oneness with God in His time. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Praying Payson

                                                    
Dr. Edward Payson, known as "Praying Payson," was a pastor in Portland, Maine, nearly 200 years ago. In 1806, just a few years after the Declaration of Independence, America was devastated by a severe depression. It was a dark period and Dr. Payson vividly recorded the tragedy in his area. He wrote:

Business has stagnated, many are failing. Hundreds have been thrown out of employment, and they are destitute. I tremble for my poor country. I fear our sins have helped call down judgment upon us.


Some of our wonderful young converts have lost their all, and had their homes stripped away; but it does my heart good to see them cheerful and quiet under it all. Others, who have no God, have lost their reason, they worry incessantly, and are apparently dying of a broken heart."

Dr. Payson and his congregation suffered the spoiling of all their goods. Dr. Payson himself lived on pennies during those hard times. On December 28, 1807, in a letter to his mother, he wrote:

Conditions worsen. A large number of the wealthy merchants live in poverty now. Businesses are failing daily. The poorhouse is already full, and hundreds are yet to be provided for. Many who have been brought up in affluence are now dependent on others for daily food.

Perhaps, Mother, you will grieve for me and say, ‘Poor Edward!’ But you never had more reason to rejoice on my behalf, and cry, ‘Rich Edward!’ than now. Blessed be God, my faith does not stand on such tottering foundations as to be shaken by these commotions.

God keeps me quiet, resigned, and even happy in all these troubles. I do not mean I don't feel pain—I do. All my worldly hopes are destroyed. In these circumstances it is impossible not to feel pain.
 
I thought I knew before that this world is treacherous, and its enjoyments but for a moment; but these hard times have taught me to wean myself from creature things and pursue the things of God.

It is my prayer, that if God has any worldly blessings in store for me, He would be pleased to give me His grace instead."

Edward Payson had quit trying to run the race of life on his own (see Hebrews 12:1). He could take joyfully the stripping away of all he possessed, because he was in this world but not of it.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me
2 Corinthians 12:9.

~David Wilkerson~


 

Heal My Unbelief

Ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord
James 1:6-7.

The world is full of Christians who will not hold on to God's Word. 

They think it is an innocent thing to sit at the table in the house of God and murmur and complain, as if God doesn't hear. God does hear our murmurings! They are
accusations that He does not care, insinuations that He has let us down.

God has warned me not to give voice to nagging doubts and fears—not to my wife, not to friends, not to loved ones, not to colleagues.

God says to take those doubts to the cross and say,  
"Jesus, heal my unbelief. Take it out."

Israel spent forty years in turmoil—backbiting, complaining, full of bitterness and jealousy. What a miserable existence they led while claiming to be the children of God, claiming to be holy. But that was their testimony, not God's.

You must come to a place where you trust Him. 

If you learn it now, the next time a crisis comes you will sing and shout with praises to your Deliverer!

Oh, the victory will be there but more importantly, you will have dealt a deathblow to all doubt, fear and unbelief.

Where do you start? By looking right into the mirror of God's Word. Consider your words and actions over the last thirty days: Have you been murmuring?
Complaining?

You may answer, "Yes, but I haven't been murmuring at God!" Oh yes, you have! No matter where or to whom you complain, it is all directed at God.

Every place I turn in my Bible, I see, "Trust Me and I'll see you through. 

Just commit your ways to Me." What does that require? Simply this: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You ask, "But what if nothing happens?" That response reveals doubt and fear.

Beloved, turn to God today and say, "Lord, I've done everything I know how to do in my situation. I know there's nothing I can do to fix the problem anyway. I'm going to trust You and wait for Your victory.”

Let God make you a testimony to the world, a witness of His faithfulness. 

Love Him with all your heart right now. 

Give Him all your problems, all your faith and all your trust!

~David Wilkerson~

"GODS Secret" The HIDDEN Meaning

Psa 25:14  The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.  

There are certain secrets of God’s providence He allows His children to learn.

Often,however, at least on the surface, His dealings with them appear to be harsh and hidden.Yet faith looks deeper and says,“This is God’s secret.You are looking only on the outside, but I look deeper and see the hidden meaning.”
 
Remember, diamonds are found in the rough,and their true value cannot be seen.

And when the tabernacle was built in the wilderness, there was nothing ornate about its outward appearance. In fact, the outer covering of the thick hides of sea
cows gave no hint of the valuable things inside.
 
Dear friend,God may send you some valuable gifts wrapped in unattractive paper. But do not worry about the wrappings, for you can be sure that inside He has hidden treasures of love, kindness,and wisdom.

If we will simply take what He sends and trust Him for the blessings inside, we will learn the meaning of the secrets of His providence, even in times of darkness.
 
A. B. Simpson

The Nature Of Light~As To Character~Transparency

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1Jn 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Light is transparency; light is clearness; light is absolute purity; light is honesty; light is openness of character. 

Light hides nothing; its whole action and nature is contrary to hiding anything. It has nothing to hide; it shows everything; it shows all:

In other words, it is not deceitful. It does not want to cover anything, or to pretend or make believe that something is other than what it is. 

Light is single; it is not double; there is no duplicity about light. And light is just - light! There is “no darkness at all” where there is light.

How many shades and aspects of darkness there are! - a whole vocabulary of words.

The Spirit has come to bring all that to an end by applying the Cross, in which it was all brought to an end in the Person of the Lord Jesus; to work out the meaning of the Cross in our lives, so that everything that belongs to that kingdom of darkness is removed

So that in the end, with us too, there is no darkness at all. 

Is that really what we think of, when we think of having, receiving, and being filled with the Holy Spirit? Here again, perhaps, a little re-shaping of our ideas is called for.

It is true that He is many other things, as well as light: He is the Spirit of Power, He is the Spirit of Wisdom; yes, He is many other things; but, with them all, He is this. And we must not make more of those “demonstration” aspects of the Spirit, in power, in gifts and capacities, in works, than we do of His character side.

If He really does His work in you and in me, He will make us to be people who can bear to be “looked into” without any fear, without any drawing of the blinds.

Our lives and our motives will bear looking into.

~T. Austin Sparks~

In The Midst Of The Storm

                                                                          
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But
straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (Matthew 14:24-27).

The disciples were so swamped, so suddenly overwhelmed, the very thought that Jesus was nearby watching over them was absurd. One probably said, "This is the work of Satan. The devil is out to kill us because of all those miracles we've had a part in." Another said, "Where did we go wrong? Which one of us has sin in his life? God is mad at somebody on this boat!" Another could have asked, "Why us? We're doing what He said to do. We're obedient. Why this storm all of a sudden?”

And in the darkest hour, "Jesus went unto them." How difficult it must have been for Jesus to wait on the edge of the storm, loving them so much, feeling every pain they felt, wanting so much to keep them from getting hurt, yearning after them as a father for his children in trouble. Yet, He knew they could never fully know or trust Him until the full fury of the storm was upon them.
 
He would reveal Himself only when they had reached the limit of their faith.
 
The boat would not have gone down, but their fear would have drowned them more quickly than the waves beating on the ship. The fear of drowning was from despair—not water!

And when the disciples saw Him . . . they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit [ghost] (Matthew 14:26).

They did not recognize Jesus in that storm. They saw a ghost—an apparition.
 
The thought of Jesus being so near, so much a part of what they were going through, did not even enter their minds.

The danger we all face is not being able to see Jesus in our troubles. Instead, we see ghosts. In that very peak moment of fear, when the night is the blackest, the storm is the angriest, the winds are the loudest, and the hopelessness so overwhelming, Jesus always draws near to us to reveal Himself as the Lord of the flood—the Savior in storms.

The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever (Psalm 29:10).

~David Wilkerson~

The Holy Spirit and Money

When the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost to dwell in men, He assumed the charge and control of their whole life.

They were to be or do nothing that was not under His inspiration and leading. 

In everything they were to move and live and have their being "in the Spirit," to be wholly spiritual men. 

Hence it followed as a necessity that their possessions and property, that their money and its appropriations were subjected to His rule too, and that their income and expenditure were animated by new, hitherto unknown, principles.

In the opening chapters of the Acts we find more than one proof of the all-embracing claim of the Holy Spirit to guide and judge in the disposal of money.

If I want as a Christian to know how to give, let me learn here what the teaching of the Holy Spirit is as regards the place money is to have in my Christian life and in that of the Church. 

~Andrew Murray~

THE HUSBANDMAN

 And My Father is the Husbandman--John 15:1

A vine must have a husbandman to plant and watch over it, to receive and rejoice in its fruit. 

Jesus says: "My Father is the husbandman." He was "the vine of God's planting." All He was and did, He owed to the Father; in all He only sought the Father's will and glory.

He had become man to show us what a creature ought to be to its Creator.

He took our place, and the spirit of His life before the Father was ever what He seeks to make ours: "Of him, and through him, and to him are all things."

He became the true Vine, that we might be true branches. Both in regard to Christ and ourselves the words teach us the two lessons of absolute dependence and perfect confidence.

My Father is the Husbandman.--Christ ever lived in the spirit of what He once said: "The Son can do nothing of himself."

As dependent as a vine is on a husbandman for the place where it is to grow, for its fencing in and watering and pruning. Christ felt Himself entirely dependent on the Father every day for the wisdom and the strength to do the Father's will.

As He said in the previous chapter (14:10): "The words that I say unto you, I speak not from Myself; but the Father abiding in Me doeth his works."

This absolute dependence had as its blessed counterpart the most blessed confidence that He had nothing to fear: the Father could not disappoint Him. With such a Husbandman as His Father, He could enter death and the grave. He could trust God to raise Him up. All that Christ is and has, He has, not in Himself, but from the Father.

My Father is the Husbandman.--That is as blessedly true for us as for Christ. Christ is about to teach His disciples about their being branches. Before He ever uses the word, or speaks at all of abiding in Him or bearing fruit, He turns their eyes heavenward to the Father watching over them, and working all in them.

At the very root of all Christian life lies the thought that God is to do all, that our work is to give and leave ourselves in His hands, in the confession of utter helplessness and dependence, in the assured confidence that He gives all we need. 

The great lack of the Christian life is that, even where we trust Christ, we leave God out of the count. Christ came to bring us to God. Christ lived the life of a man exactly as we have to live it. 

Christ the Vine points to God the Husbandman. As He trusted God, let us trust God, that everything we ought to be and have, as those who belong to the Vine, will be given us from above.

Isaiah said: "A vineyard of red wine; I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."

Ere we begin to think of fruit or branches, let us have our heart filled with the faith: as glorious as the Vine, is the Husbandman. As high and holy as is our calling, so mighty and loving is the God who will work it all.

As surely as the Husbandman made the Vine what it was to be, will He make each branch what it is to be. Our Father is our Husbandman, the Surety for our growth and fruit.


Blessed Father, we are Thy husbandry. Oh, that Thou mayest have honor of the work of Thy hands! O my Father, I desire to open my heart to the joy of this wondrous truth: My Father is the Husbandman.

Teach me to know and trust Thee, and to see that the same deep interest with which Thou carest for and delightest in the Vine, extends to every branch, to me too. 

~Andrew Murray~

The Old CROSS Is The POWER

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. 

The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.

The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.

That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.

We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.

God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God's just sentence against him.

What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.

Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.

To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow and private view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon this message from Paul's day to the present. Whether stated in these exact words or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has brought life and power to the world through the centuries. The mystics, the reformers, the revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and mighty operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God's approval.

Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power.

~A. W. Tozer~

BOLDNESS TO ENTER IN

                                                                          
Hebrews 10 contains an incredible promise. It says God's door is always open to us, giving us total access to the Father:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; 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 Hebrews 10:19-22.

A few verses later, we are warned that the day of the Lord is fast approaching: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching"verse 25. 

God is saying, "Even now, as the time of Christ's return draws closer, you must seek My face.

It is time to go into your secret closet and get to know Me!

I believe we are already seeing signs that we are close to a meltdown of our financial system; violence and immorality are on the rise and our society is pleasure mad.

False prophets—"angels of light"—have deceived many with their doctrines of demons. And at any time we can expect to see the hour of tribulation, which will cause men's hearts to fail with fear.

Yet, before all this happens, the writer of Hebrews says:"Don't let the truth slip away from you!

Stay awake and alert.You have an open door into God's holy presence, so go into Him with full assurance of faith, making your petitions known. 

Christ's blood has already made the way for you and nothing stands between you and the Father. 

You have every right to enter into the holy of holies, to receive all the help you need!”

~David Wilkerson~

Christ's Poverty A Mark Of Separation

Christ's poverty was one of the marks of His entire separation from the world, the proof that He was of another world and another spirit. 

As it was with the fruit good for food and pleasant to the eye, sin entered the world, so the great power of the world over men is in the cares and possessions and enjoyments of this life.

Christ came to conquer the world and cast out its prince, to win the world back to God. He did so by refusing every temptation to accept its gifts or seek its aid.

Of this protest against the worldly spirit, its self-pleasing and its trust in the visible, the poverty of Christ was one of the chief elements. 

He overcame the world first in the temptations by which its prince sought to ensnare Himself, then and through that in its power over us.

The poverty of Christ was thus no mere accident or external circumstance. It was an essential element of His holy, perfect life; one great secret of this power to conquer and to save; His path to the Glory of God. 

~T. Austin Sparks

Fix Your Gaze Upon Christ

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The word 'beholding' is a strong word; it is not just taking a look, it is 'fixing our gaze.' That is what the New Testament means by beholding, behold. 

We all, fixing our gaze upon Christ, as He mirrors in His own Person the glory of God, the satisfaction of God, the mind of God in perfection. The point is that you and I must contemplate the Lord Jesus in spirit, and be much occupied with Him. We must have our Holy of Holies where we retire with Him.

We must have a secret place where we spend time with Him. And not only in certain special seasons, but we must seek, as we move about, ever to keep Him before us. Looking at the Lord Jesus, contemplating Him, we shall be changed into the same image. The Holy Spirit will operate upon our occupation.

You become like that which obsesses you, which occupies you. Is that not true? You see what people are occupied with, and you can see their character changing by their obsessions.

They are becoming like the thing which is obsessing them; they are changing; they are becoming different.

Something has got a grip on them; they can never think about anything else, talk about anything else; and it is changing their character.

Now Paul said, "For me to live is Christ – being occupied with Him." It is the wrong word to use, but nevertheless it would be a good thing if He became our "obsession," our continuous occupation.

As we steadfastly fix our gaze upon Him, the Spirit changes us into the same image.

~T. Austin Sparks~

They DON’T BELIEVE GOD HEARS Their PRAYERS

Some believers get discouraged over unanswered prayers and, finally, they simply give up. They think, Prayer doesn't work for me and why should I pray if it doesn't work?
 
The Israelites in Isaiah's time had the same attitude. Isaiah wrote: "They seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness,they ask of me, they take delight in approaching to God. "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge (notice)?" (Isaiah 58:2-3).

These people were saying, "I love God. I do right and avoid sin, and until recently, I've been faithful to seek Him in prayer. But, you know what? He's never answered me. So why should I continue afflicting my soul before Him?"

James writes that God doesn't answer the prayers of those who ask for things simply to satisfy themselves: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). In other words: "You're not asking for God's will. You're not ready to submit to whatever He wants. Rather, you're trying to dictate to Him those things that will satisfy your own heart."

Our God is utterly faithful. Paul writes, "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). He is saying, "It doesn't matter if you hear a million voices crying, 'Prayer doesn't work. God doesn't hear me!’ Let every man be
called a liar because God's Word stands. He is faithful to hear us!"

Jesus said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22). Simply put, Christ is saying, "If you truly believe, you will be willing to wait and expect an answer from your heavenly Father. No matter how long it takes, you will hold on in faith, believing He will answer."

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!"(Psalm 31:19). 

They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" (34:10).

~David Wilkerson~