The Ephesian Church

You may remember the seven churches that John mentions in Revelation 2. Among them is the church of Ephesus, a congregation Jesus commends very highly.

I like to think of our church in Times Square as being like the Ephesian church. That body of believers labored in one of the world's most populous cities, never fainting in the midst of vile wickedness. 

The people lived sacrificially, hated sin and refused to accept false doctrines. They stood strong in faith, loving God with all their heart no matter what temptations Satan threw at them.
 
Yet Christ knew something was amiss among these people. 

He so loved this church—it was such a bright lamp to the nations—that He wasn’t about to sit idly by and let it die. So He told the Ephesians, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4).

Jesus was saying, “Your fire is going out! The love for Me that once motivated your faithfulness is waning. 

You once bore My burden for the lost but now you are satisfied merely to sit and listen to sermons. 

You have become totally engrossed in your own personal concerns while ignoring Mine.

You have fallen far from where you once stood!

Jesus then tells them, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen” (verse 5). He is saying, “Think back! You used to yearn to come to My house, to be with My saints, to bear My burden. But now an hour on Sunday morning is plenty for you!”

So, dear Christian, are you still on fire for Jesus? Are you in love with Him as passionately as when you first got saved?

Or have you lost interest in His concerns, forsaking all ministry? Do you have too much else going on in your life? If so, the Lord says to you, “I have something against you—you have left your first love!”

Listen to what Jesus says to us at this point: “Repent, and do the first works” (verse 5). He is saying, “Mourn over your growing apathy. Be contrite and take it seriously. Then let your grief lead you back to where you were when you first loved Me!”


~David Wilkerson~

A True Christian A Rebuke To The Sinner

IT IS NOT a comfortable state to be at enmity with God, and the sinner knows this.

Although he perseveres in his rebellion against the Most High, and turns not at the rebuke of the Almighty, but still goeth on in his iniquity, desperately seeking his own destruction, yet is he aware in his own conscience that he is not in a secure position. 

Hence it is that all wicked men are constantly on the look out for excuses. 

They find these either in pretended resolutions to reform at some future period, or else in the declaration that reformation is out of their power, and that, acting according to their own nature, they must continue to go on in their iniquities.

When a man is willing to find an excuse for being God's enemy he need never be at a loss. 

He who hath to find a fact may find some difficulty; but he who would forge a lie may sit at his own fireside and do it. 

Now, the excuses of sinners are all of them false; they are refuges of lies; and therefore we need not wonder that they are exceedingly numerous, and very easy to come at.  

One way in which sinners frequently excuse themselves is by endeavoring to get some apology for their own iniquities from the inconsistencies of God's people. 

This is the reason why there is much slander in the world. 

A true Christian is a rebuke to the sinner, wherever he goes he is a living protest against the evil of sin.

Hence it is that the worldling makes a dead set upon a pious man. 

His language in his heart is, "He accuses me to my face; I cannot bear the sight of his holy character; it makes the blackness of my own life appear the more terrible, when I see the whiteness of his innocence contrasting with it."

And then the worldling opens all his eyes, and labors to find a fault with the virtuous. 

If, however, he fails to do so, he will next try to invent a fault; he will slander the man.

And if even there he fails, and the man is like Job, "perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil;" then the sinner will, like the devil of old, begin to impute some wrong motive to the Christian's innocency. "Doth Job serve God for nought?" said the devil. 

He could find no fault with Job whatever, his character was untainted and unblemished; but, says he, "he keeps to his religion for what he gets by it."

I reckon it to be a glorious accusation when we are falsely charged with being religious for the sake of gain. 

It shows that our enemies have no other charge that they can bring against us. They have ransacked all the flies of their calumny, and they can find nothing tangible, and this is the last they can bring—an imputation upon the motive of the man who has no other motive in all the world than to glorify his God and win sinners from destruction.

In this, then, let us glory. If sinners slander us, it is because we make them uneasy.

They see that our lives are a protest against them: and what can they do?

~Charles Spurgeon~

Blood Of The Lamb The Conquering Weapon

                                                                          

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
  

WHEREVER evil appears it is to be fought with by the children of God in the name of Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.

When evil appeared in an angel, straightway there was war in heaven.

Evil in mortal men is to be striven against by all regenerate men. If sin comes to us in the form of an angel of light we must still war with it. If it comes with all manner of deceivableness of unrighteousness, we must not parley for a single moment, but begin the battle forthwith, if indeed we belong to the armies of the Lord.

Evil is at its very worst in Satan himself: with him we fight. He is no mean adversary. The evil spirits which are under his control are, any one of them, terrible foes; but when Satan himself personally attacks a Christian, any one of us will be hard put to it.

When this dragon blocks our road, we shall need heavenly aid to force our passage.

A pitched battle with Apollyon may not often occur, but when it does, you will know it painfully: you will record it in your diary as one of the darkest days you have ever lived; and you eternally praise your God, when you overcome him.

But even if Satan were ten times stronger and more crafty than he is, we are bound to wrestle with him: we cannot for a moment hesitate, or offer him terms.

Evil in its highest, strongest, and proudest form is to be assailed by the soldier of the cross, and nothing must end the war but complete victory.  

Satan is the enemy, the enemy of enemies.  

      

That prayer of our Lord's, which we usually render,   "Deliver us from evil," has the special significance of "Deliver us from the evil one"; because he is the chief embodiment of evil, and in him evil is intensified, and has come to its highest strength.

That man had need have Omnipotence with him who hopes to overcome the enemy of God and man.

He would destroy all godly ones if he could; and though he cannot, such is his inveterate hate, that he worries those whom he cannot devour with a malicious eagerness.

In this chapter the devil is called the "great red dragon." He is great in capacity, intelligence, energy, and experience.

Whether or not he was the chief of all angels before he fell I do not know. Some have thought that he was such, and that when he heard that a man was to sit upon the throne of God, out of very jealousy he rebelled against the Most High.

This is also conjecture. But we do know that he was and is an exceedingly great spirit as compared with us. He is a being great in evil: the prince of darkness, having the power of death.

He shows his malice against the saints by accusing the brethren day and night before God.

In the prophets we have the record of Satan standing to accuse Joshua the servant of God. Satan also accused Job of serving God from mercenary motives: "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and all that he hath?"

This ever active enemy desires to tempt as well as accuse: he would have us, and sift us as wheat.

In calling him the dragon, the Holy Spirit seems to hint at his mysterious power and character.

To us a spirit such as he is, must ever be a mystery in his being and working. Satan is a mysterious personage though he is not a mythical one.

We can never doubt his existence if we have once come into conflict with him; yet he is to us all the more real because so mysterious.

If he were flesh and blood it would be far easier to contend with him; but to fight with this spiritual wickedness in high places is a terrible task.

As a dragon he is full of cunning and ferocity.

In him force is allied with craft; and if he cannot achieve his purpose at once by power, he waits his time. He deludes, he deceives; in fact, he is said to deceive the whole world.

What a power of deception must reside in him, when under his influence the third part of the stars of heaven are made to fall, and myriads of men in all ages have worshipped demons and idols!

He has steeped the minds of men in delusion, so that they cannot see that they should worship none but God, their Maker.

He is styled "the old serpent"; and this reminds us how practiced he is in every evil art. He was a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies.

After thousands of years of constant practice in deception he is much too cunning for us. If we think that we can match him by craft we are grievous fools, for he knows vastly more than the wisest of mortals; and if it once comes to a game of policies, he will certainly clear the board, and sweep our tricks into the bag.

To this cunning he adds great speed, so that he is quick to assail at any moment, darting down upon us like a hawk upon a poor chick.

He is not everywhere present; but it is hard to say where he is not. He cannot be omnipresent; but yet, by that majestic craft of his, he so manages his army of fallen ones that, like a great general, he superintends the whole field of battle, and seems present at every point.

No door can shut him out, no height of piety can rise beyond his reach. He meets us in all our weaknesses, and assails us from every point of the compass. He comes upon us unaware, and gives us wounds which are not easily healed.

But yet, dear friends, powerful as this infernal spirit certainly must be, his power is defeated when we are resolved never to be at peace with him.

We must never dream of terms or truce with evil.

To suppose that we can let him alone, and all will be well, is a deadly error. We must fight or perish: evil will slay us if we do not slay it.

Our only safety will lie in a determined, vigorous opposition to sin, whatever shape it assumes, whatever it may threaten, whatever it may promise.

The Holy Ghost alone can maintain in us this enmity to sin.

According to the text it is said of the saints, "They overcame him." We are never to rest until it is said of us also, "They overcame him." He is a foeman worthy of your steel.

Do you refuse the conflict? Do you think of turning back?

You have no armour for your back. To cease to fight is to be overcome.

You have your choice between the two, either to gird up the loins of your minds for a life-long resistance, or else to be Satan's slaves for ever.

I pray God that you may awake, arise, and give battle to the foe.

Resolve once for all that by the grace of God you will be numbered with those who overcome the arch-enemy.

Our text brings before us a very important subject for consideration***What is the conquering weapon? With what sword did they fight who have overcome the great red dragon?

Listen! "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb."

Secondly, How do we use that weapon? We do as they did who overcame "by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

~Charles Spurgeon~

 

The Unknown Journey

                                                 

                                                
Heb 11:8  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.


ABRAM began his journey without any knowledge of his ultimate destination. He obeyed a noble impulse without any discernment of its consequences.

He took “one step,” and he did not “ask to see the distant scene.” And that is faith, to do God’s will here and now, quietly leaving the results to Him.

Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral process; it is fidelity in a moral act.

Faith leaves something to the Lord; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and destiny.

And so faith is accompanied by serenity. “He that believeth shall not make haste”—or, more literally, “shall not get into a fuss.”  

He shall not get into a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his to-morrows.

Concerning his yesterdays faith says, “Thou hast beset me behind.” Concerning his to-morrows faith says, “Thou hast beset me before.” Concerning his to-day faith says, “Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me.” That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand.

~John Henry Jowett~

On The Day Of Pentecost

What gospel did Peter preach to the masses on the Day of Pentecost? 


The Bible tells us that when the people heard the apostle testify, They were pricked in their heart, and said . . . Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:37-38).

Peter did not tell these people just to “believe and be saved.” Nor did he ask them to merely make a decision, to cast a vote for Jesus. 

No, he told them to repent first, and then be baptized in obedience to Christ!

What gospel did Paul preach to the pagan Athenians on Mars Hill? 

He told them very directly, “God . . . now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

These Greek intellectuals had no trouble believing in God. In fact, you could say their very pastime was “believing” in many gods—first this one, then that one. 

Whenever someone came along preaching a god persuasively, they believed in it. So, they believed—but they did it while living in sin. 

Simple belief was not enough!

Paul told these men, “No! No! Jesus cannot simply be added to your list of gods. You may believe in them all, but you can’t do that with Jesus. 

He has come to save you from your sins and He commands all His followers to repent and be cleansed!”

Later, Paul preached the same gospel of repentance to King Agrippa: “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:19-20).

Paul is saying, “Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve preached repentance. And genuine repentance proves itself by its actions!”

These passages make clear to us that the apostolic church preached unabashedly the same gospel John and Jesus preached: "Repent for the remission of your sins!”

~David Wilkerson~

The LUST Of The Eye

LOOK at Lot. He was a man of the world, sharp as a needle, having an eye to the main chance. He boasted to himself that he always “took in the whole situation.” 

He said that what he did not know was not worth knowing. But such “knowing” men have always very imperfect sight.

Lot saw “all the well-watered plain of Jordan,” but he overlooked the city of Sodom and its exceedingly wicked and sinful people.

And the thing he overlooked was the biggest thing in the outlook! It was to prove his undoing, and to bring his presumptuous selfishness to the ground.

Look at Abram. His spirit was cool and thoughtful, unheated by the feverish yearning after increased possessions.

He had a “quiet eye,” the fruit of his faithful communion with God. He was more intent on peace than plenty. He preferred fraternal fellowship to selfish increase.

And so he chose the unselfish way, and along that way he discovered the blessing of God. “The Lord is mindful of His own. He remembereth His children.” 

In the unselfish way we always enjoy the Divine companionship, and in that companionship we are endowed with inconceivable wealth.
 
~John Henry Jowett~

Good And Bad Roads

                                               

                                                 

THERE is nothing breaks up more speedily than a badly-made road. Every season is its enemy and works for its destruction. 

Fierce heat and intensest cold both strive for its undoing. And the way of the ungodly is an appallingly bad road. There is rottenness in its foundations, and there is built into it “wood, and hay, and stubble,” How can it stand?

The Spirit of the Lord breatheth upon it, and it is surely brought to nought. All the forces of holiness are pledged to its destruction, and they shall pick it to pieces, and shall scatter its elements to the winds.
 
I AM THE WAY! That road remains sound “in all generations.” Changing circumstances cannot affect its stability. It is proof against every tempest, and against the most violent heat. 

It is a road in which little children can walk in happiness and in which old people can walk in peace. It is firm in the day of life, and it is absolutely sure in the hour of death. It never yields! 

Thou hast set my feet upon a rock and hast established my goings. This is the way, walk ye in it.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Tampering With The Label

                                                                              

Sin is transgression. It is the deliberate climbing of the fence. We see the trespass-board, and in spite of the warning we stride into the forbidden field.

Sin is not ignorance, it is intention.

We sin when we are wide-awake! There are teachers abroad who would soften words like these. They offer us terms which appear to lessen the harshness of our actions; they give our sin an aspect of innocence. 

But to alter the label on the bottle does not change the character of the contents. 

Poison is poison give it what name we please.

Sin is the transgression of the law.

Let us be on our guard against the men whose pockets are filled with deceptive labels. Let us vigilantly resist all teachings which would chloroform the conscience.

Let us prefer true terms to merely nice ones.

Let us call sin by its right name, and let us tolerate no moral conjuring either with ourselves or with others.

The first essential in all moral reformation is to call sin “sin.” “If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin.”

~John Henry Jowett~

Prayer And Blessing

Eze 36:37  Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

Prayer is the forerunner of mercy.

Turn to sacred history, and you will find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to this world unheralded by supplication. 

You have found this true in your own personal experience. God has given you many an unsolicited favour, but still great prayer has always been the prelude of great mercy with you.

When you first found peace through the blood of the cross, you had been praying much, and earnestly interceding with God that he would remove your doubts, and deliver you from your distresses. Your assurance was the result of prayer.

When at any time you have had high and rapturous joys, you have been obliged to look upon them as answers to your prayers. 

When you have had great deliverances out of sore troubles, and mighty helps in great dangers, you have been able to say, “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
 
Prayer is always the preface to blessing. It goes before the blessing as the blessing's shadow.
 
When the sunlight of God’s mercies rises upon our necessities, it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the plain. Or, to use another illustration, when God piles up a hill of mercies, he himself shines behind them, and he casts on our spirits the shadow of prayer, so that we may rest certain, if we are much in prayer, our pleadings are the shadows of mercy.

Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the value of it.

If we had the blessings without asking for them, we should think them common things; but prayer makes our mercies more precious than diamonds. 

The things we ask for are precious, but we do not realize their
preciousness until we have sought for them earnestly.

Prayer makes the darken'd cloud withdraw; Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw; Gives exercise to faith and love; Brings every blessing from above.”

~Charles Spurgeon~

There Is A Limit To Our Affliction

Although I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. (Nahum 1:12) 

There is a limit to our affliction. God sends it and then removes it. 

Do you complain, saying, “When will this end?” 

May we quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the Lord till He comes.
 
Our Father takes away the rod when His purpose in using it is
fully accomplished.
 
If the affliction is sent to test us so that our words would glorify God, it will only end once He has caused us to testify to His praise and honor. 

In fact, we would not want the difficulty to depart until God has removed from us all the honor we can yield to Him.
 
Today things may become “completely calm” Matt. 8:26.
Who knows how soon these raging waves will give way to a sea of glass with seagulls sitting on the gentle swells?
 
After a long ordeal, the threshing tool is on its hook, and the wheat has been gathered into the barn. Before much time has passed, we may be just as happy as we are sorrowful now.
 
It is not difficult for the Lord to turn night into day. He who sends the clouds can just as easily clear the skies.

Let us be encouraged—things are better down the road. 

Let us sing God’s praises in anticipation of things to come.

~ Charles H. Spurgeon~

The Lord of the harvest (Luke 10:2) is not always threshing us.

His trials are only for a season, and the showers soon pass. 

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). 

Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Cor. 4:17). 

Trials do serve their purpose.
 
Even the fact that we face a trial proves there is something very precious to our Lord in us, or else He would not spend so much time and energy on us.

Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious metal of faith mingled with the rocky core of our nature, and it is to refine us into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal.
 
Be patient, O sufferer! The result of the Refiner’s fire will more than compensate for our trials, once we see the “eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Just to hear His commendation, “Well done” (Matt.25:21); to be honored before the holy angels; to be glorified in Christ, so that I may reflect His glory back to Him—ah! that will be more than enough reward for all my trials.

~From Tried By Fire~
 
Just as the weights of a grandfather clock, or the stabilizers in a ship, are necessary for them to work properly, so are troubles to the soul. 

The sweetest perfumes are obtained only through tremendous pressure, the fairest flowers grow on the most isolated and snowy peaks, the most beautiful gems are those that have suffered the longest at the jeweler’s wheel, and the most magnificent statues have endured the most blows from the chisel. 

All of these, however, are subject to God’s law. Nothing happens that has not been appointed with consummate care and foresight. 

~From Daily Devotional Commentary~

Forgive And Set A Prisoner Free

                                                                                 

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

Pretty sobering picture huh but it would seem a heart chained up in unforgiveness would probably look this way. Not much freedom in it is there? Let us all ask the LORD to search our hearts to see if we have any unforgiveness and if so repent.

The Devil Comes To Seek Us

                                                   

The best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. So wrote good Mr. Spurgeon once in "The Sword and the Trowel", and that little sentence has helped many a tried and tired child Of God to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest attacks of the foe.
 
We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron, All the Philistines came up to seek David.

And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.
 
When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God let us accept it as a token of salvation, and claim double blessing, victory and power. Power is developed by resistance. 

The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. 

The way electricity is produced in the power-house yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.

~A. B. Simpson~

We Have A Purpose

 

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.

The Lord Jesus derived much strength from this knowledge of purpose with which His life was bound up.

There is no doubt that we too shall get strength from that sense of purpose, that consciousness of a divine vocation which is ours.

That is why the enemy always tries to discourage us. He seeks to raise questions and doubts in our hearts as to the reaching of the goal, telling us that our labor is in vain.

If he succeeds to rob us of that sense of purpose in our life, to make us doubt with regard to our testimony, our work, or the value of the suffering we have to go through, we shall lose our strength and the enemy will get the upper hand.

Jesus Christ was maintained in God’s strength all the way through, because He was dominated by the sense of His mission, because He kept firm His purpose. If we hold fast the purpose of our life, if we keep in view our heavenly calling, we too shall be maintained in strength.

But if we try to fulfill some ambition of our own, if we carry out our own programs, if we keep some movement going, there will be no divine resources available for us.

In order to be maintained in strength it is essential that we know that we are in the purpose of God. 

Our service must always be the result of a divine purpose.

It is of the greatest importance for us to realize that we have a place in God’s plan. We have to deny ourselves.

In God’s purpose there is no room for personal interests. 

To them that love God, to them whose heart is taken up with God and the fulfillment of His purpose, “all things work together for good, to them that are called according to His purpose.” 

That is a definite statement showing believers are called into a Divine purpose.

We have got to know as definitely as the Lord Jesus knew, that we are in God’s purpose.

~T. Austin Sparks~

GOD Deals With His Children As The Eagle

                                                 

                                                 
God deals with His children as the eagle deals with her young. He sees that His children are too often determined to nestle. They build earthly nests for themselves; surround themselves with various comforts and luxuries, and then settle down to enjoy them. 

Instead  of setting their affections on things above, they set them on things beneath; instead of seeking to become rich toward God they are selfishly content to be rich from God.

As wealth enlarges, worldly ambition enlarges also; and I do not observe that grace always grows in the same ratio with a growing income.

The new circumstances and conditions bring new ideas of living, new expenditures, and new luxuries. 

The old residence (for example) must be supplanted with a mansion whose splendor shall reflect the splendid financial successes of its owner. And in the decoration of it, what brain-racking and consultation and absorption of time and thought and treasure! When the ambitious design has  been carried out, and pride has added the top-stone to its temple, then the flatteries and congratulations of summer friends begin to ascend like intoxicating incense into the nostrils of the lord of the manor. 

This will do now, says Brother Plutus to himself complacently ; "I will take comfort. Business thrives. My wife and daughters are gaining  the entree of all perfumed precincts of society." So he nestles. They all nestle in a most lnxurious state of spiritual slumber. Their piety has been rocked to sleep in that sumptuous nest.

The devotions and the religious duties, which belonged to their humbler and better days, are now as completely tabooed as is a yellow-fever patient at the gates of the Quarantine hospital. 

Well, now, if God strikes in upon that nest with crushing disasters or bereavements, do you wonder?

If bankruptcy bring that splendid establishment to the hammer, or if calamity sweep away those idols; if Death mount those sumptuous stairways and writes paleness on some cheek of roses, do you wonder?

God saw that His children were beginning to nestle and to become too worldly for their soul's health.

So He stirred up that nest of self-indulgence, and in the very way that they would feel most keenly. Not in revenge does He do it; not in cruelty, but in love to their souls, and in tender jealousy for the honor of their Christian name and character. 

When any member of Christ's flock surrounds himself--or herself--with worldly idols, and surrenders the heart to them, and worships them, and robs Christ for them, then he or she may expect that neglected Saviour to break up that idol-worship--even if sharp chastisements be employed to accomplish it. 

Ah! have we not often seen such awakened and smitten souls start up from their spiritual slumbers and try once more a flight heavenward? Have we not seen them--with wings that had been weakened by long disuse--endeavor to soar again?

As an eagle taketh her young upon her wings and beareth them, so the patient love of God has borne up His backslidden and penitent children. 

He has taken them on the strong pinions of His imparted grace. He has kindled by His Holy Spirit fresh desires after Him, and awakened their torpid affections. 

They have gone back to their Bibles and to their knees. 

To the cross have they gone--in confession and in tears, and have sought the forgiveness of Him who has been wounded in the house of His friends.

They have laid hold again of long neglected duties, and honestly confessed, "it is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was chastised I went astray." God is dealing with them as with sons; and what wayward and disobedient son is there that He chastiseth not? 

He restoreth my soul! is the joyful cry of the pardoned and reconverted backslider, as he rises once more into the sweet and full communion with his forgiving Lord.

His song now is : "And as on eagle's wings I soar. I see the face of Christ once more, And heaven comes down my soul to meet...And glory crowns the mercy-seat," 

~Theodore Cuyler~