Avoid The Least Contagion Of Evil

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

In the Christian life, nothing is more essential than faithfulness.

It is that which stands foremost and distinguishes the true Christian from the false.

Without it, all other apparent signs of grace are but a sham and a pretense. 

Faithfulness is that which Christ mainly respects.

You must be true to Christ, and let nothing tempt you to seek other reward at the expense of losing His approval and His smile.

Often place yourself in His presence, and ask Him if what you do is pleasing in His sight.

Carefully must you watch against the very least thing that will cast a slur on the name of Him whom you love, or the Gospel which you profess.

Avoid the least contagion of evil...the very touch of anything that defiles. 

Turn away from all doubtful paths.

Let there be genuine, straightforward honesty and truth in all business transactions.

Suffer all loss, even unto death, rather than the loss of a good conscience.

By no means attempt to serve two masters, for nothing more surely will destroy all your peace and lead to final ruin.

To be faithful to Christ, it is also needful to use diligently for Him the talents committed to you.

Whatever you have is but trust-money, for which the Lord will require an account.

Our gold and the silver, the years of our life, the influence we possess with others, our temporal comforts, our natural gifts, our spiritual advantages - all these are to be laid out at interest in the Lord's service.

You must be faithful also in carrying the cross, and in meeting reproach for Christ's sake, as you try to follow the Savior.

But the cross will last but a little while and then the gain will be eternal.

Faithful unto death!

Only so long will trial and temptation assail us.

A few more days and years perhaps we may have still to battle on.

A few more days of sorrow, mingled as He will have it, with seasons of quietness and joy - and our warfare will be accomplished and the victory won.

~George Everard-1874~

The Only Way To Obtain Relief Under The Manifold Cares That Often Encompass Our Path!

Casting the whole of your care all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all on Him...

For He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
 

The remembrance of this word of Peter may help you to bring God into everything.

He can manage and undertake for you far better than you can for yourself. 

There is no load of anxiety for yourself or others, no strait in which you can be placed, no perplexities that can harass and bewilder you-but the Lord bids you to cast it upon Him and leave it trustfully in His hands.

The only way to obtain relief under the manifold cares that often encompass our path, is to cast them all on God.

We must bring them to our Father and leave them with Him! 

We must tell them out in the ear of our great High Priest and have confidence enough in Him to know that He will not neglect that which we commit to Him.

Casting all your cares upon Him, for HE CARES FOR YOU. Yes, this is our consolation.

Christ is the Friend who cares for us, thinks upon us, hears every sigh and groan, marks every tear, and knows every sorrow that weighs upon the mind.

Ah, it is a thought to cheer a believer at all times - what a Friend have I in Christ!

He is the Friend always near. Though banished far from home and kindred, Christ is always by my side.

I cannot see Him, but I know that He is here. 

He has promised me, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," and He will be as good as His Word.

Then I may add another thought: Christ is kinder than the kindest.

Could I gather together all the rays of kindness, pity, tender love, that have ever glowed in the heart of a mother toward her child, of a bridegroom toward the bride, of a brother to brother, of a friend to friend...

All combined would be but as one tiny sunbeam, compared to that wondrous love which is in the heart of Christ for His redeemed people!

Nor is it less comforting for me, to remember that He who cares for me is changeless in His faithfulness and love.

Oh, the marvelous sympathy, gentleness, loving-kindness which Christ daily shows me, and which I know will never cease!

Hence it is a most reasonable thing for me to cast all my cares on Him.

His presence, His kindness, His effectual power, His unswerving faithfulness  warrant me in leaving all in His hand. 

Oh, that I may ever have grace to flee to this refuge and hiding-place!

Oh, that every burden, every fear, every foreboding, every jot and tittle of my daily anxieties, may all be entrusted to His loving hand!

~George Everard-1882~

 

The Shield Of Faith~The Power That Protects Us

Ephesians 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 

The armor of the ancients was of two different kinds, and both kinds were absolutely necessary.

It was partly armor for attack and partly armor for protection. 

Now very generally, in the New Testament, faith is one of the weapons of attack .

1John 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

We see that magnificently illustrated in the pageant of the eleventh of Hebrews.

But here, and it may be only here, Paul looks on faith in quite another light, for he sets it among the armor of protection. 

Faith is not here the power that leads to victory; it is the power that protects us in the battle.

It keeps us unembittered and serene amid the mysteries and buffetings of life.

To believe that love is on the throne and that through everything there runs a loving purpose, is in the deepest of all senses to be shielded.

How effectual that shielding is, is shown by the apostle's choice of words.

There are two words in the Greek tongue for shield; the one is common and the other rare.

The one connotes a little shield or target; the other a frame that covered the whole man.

Faith is not a partial protection; it casts its defense over the whole of life.

It is a means of safety for the intellect, as surely as for the passions of the heart.

It guards the feet when they are prone to wander, and the hands when they are growing weary, and the eyes when they are drawn to what is wrong.

The shield of faith is an all-embracing shelter.

Faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ is nothing less than a universal safeguard.

All was choicely shown to the Ephesians by the word which the apostle used when he bade them take up the shield of faith.

~George H. Morrison~

Thorough Cleansing

Eze 36:25  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

What an exceeding joy is this! He who has purified us with the blood of Jesus will also cleanse us by the water of the Holy Spirit.

God hath said it, and so it must be, "Ye shall be clean."

LORD, we feel and mourn our uncleanness, and it is cheering to be assured by Thine own mouth that we shall be clean.

Oh, that Thou wouldst make a speedy work of it!

He will deliver us from our worst sins.

The uprisings of unbelief and the deceitful lusts which war against the soul, the vile thoughts of pride, and the suggestions of Satan to blaspheme the sacred name-all these shall be so purged away as never to return.

He will also cleanse us from all our idols, whether of gold or of clay: our impure loves and our excessive love of that which in itself is pure. 

That which we have idolized shall either be broken from us or we shall be broken off from it.

It is God who speaks of what He Himself will do.

Therefore is this word established and sure, and we may boldly look for that which it guarantees to us.

Cleansing is a covenant blessing, and the covenant is ordered in all things and sure.

~Charles Spurgeon~

How Do I Mortify The Flesh?

The flesh is a bosom traitor; it is like the Trojan horse within the walls, which does all the mischief.

The flesh is a sly enemy - it kills by embracing.

The embraces of the flesh are like the ivy embracing the oak; which sucks out the strength of it for its own leaves and berries. 

So the flesh by its soft embraces, sucks out of the heart all good.

The pampering of the flesh, is the quenching of God's Spirit.
 
The flesh chokes and stifles holy motions - the flesh sides with
Satan.

There is a party (the flesh) within us, which will not pray, which will not believe.

The flesh inclines us more to believe a temptation than a promise.

The flesh is so near to us, its counsels are more attractive. 

There is no chain of adamant which binds so tightly as the chain of lust.

In the best of saints, sin can fasten its roots in them, and spring out sometimes with inordinate desires.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

How Do I Mortify The Flesh?

1. Withdraw the fuel that may make lust burn. Avoid all temptations.

Take heed of that which nourishes sin.
 
Those who pray that they may not be led into temptation must not lead themselves into temptation.

2. Fight against fleshly lusts with spiritual weapons...faith and prayer.

The best way to combat with sin is upon our knees.

Beg strength from Christ. Samson's strength lay in his hair; our strength lies in our head - Christ.

This is a mystery to the major part of the world who gratify the flesh rather than mortify it.

~Thomas Watson 1669~

Living By Your Reason, Emotions, Or Your Will Makes You Ready Prey For Deception

Children of God who lean to the soul on any or all of its sides-reason (intellect), emotion (feelings) or will (volition) will be a ready prey for deception.

First of all, such people are already a contradiction of their essential nature as now - by new birth - spiritual.

It becomes clear at the outset that they are locked up and a law unto themselves.

Their way is the way, and they see no other.

As to further light, they are largely unteachable; as to further experience, they are content; as to another course, they cannot conceive of it.

Christians who live in their own mind will often be found occupied with a question.

They cannot live without a question or a problem.

If one is shattered, they will soon have another.

Thus they go ever round in a circle, and come back to their starting point, making no real spiritual progress.

Like a horse in the ring, they are whipped and driven, and there is no expanse of life or vision.

Or they lash others with their ideas and seek to subject other minds to their own.

It may eventuate in some very weird, unsound and untrue conclusions.

At length somewhere in this occult position-for it is nothing less-a deception will be found, and Satan's hand will be seen.

The same thing is true with regard to Christians living on the emotional side of the soul.

This side demands experiences, evidences, manifestations.

Indeed the whole realm of sense-life governs here.

If we intensify and project our emotional side sufficiently, we can have any experience that is possible.

The whole body and mind can be involved. Vocal cords or solar plexus may be affected. There may be facial distortions, rigidity, 'second sight', visions, extra capabilities, prodigious strength, mirth, ecstasy, etc.

All these, from simple beginnings, may come through the psychical or soul-life as extended and strained along the line of intense desire.

If this is true in these two directions, how true it is on the side of the will.

A forceful, dominating, assertive soul, not under the government of the Holy Spirit, is a terrible menace to the interests of God.

Decisions will be made, courses adopted, objectives secured, positions occupied, in the name of devotion to God, which will be Towers of Babel, Pyramids of Egypt, Ishmaels of Abram (not Abraham).

There will be a good deal of remorse bound up with these achievements eventually, and a wish that they had never been.

The result will be something false, and many may be involved in the tragedy.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Rejoice In The Flood

It is a striking assertion, "through the floods" (the place where we might have expected nothing but trembling and terror, anguish and dismay) "there," says the Psalmist, "did we rejoice in him!"

How many there are who can endorse this as their experience: that "there," in their very seasons of distress and sadness, they have been enabled, as they never did before, to triumph and rejoice.

How near their God in covenant is brought! How brightly shine His promises!

In the day of our prosperity we cannot see the brilliancy of these.

Like the sun at noon, hiding out the stars from sight, they are indiscernible; but when night overtakes, the deep, dark night of sorrow, out come these clustering stars-blessed constellations of Bible hope and promise of consolation.

Like Jacob at Jabbok, it is when our earthly sun goes down that the Divine Angel comes forth, and we wrestle with Him and prevail.

It was at night, "in the evening," Aaron lit the sanctuary lamps.

It is in the night of trouble the brightest lamps of the believer are often kindled.

It was in his loneliness and exile John had the glorious vision of his Redeemer.

There is many a Patmos still in the world, whose brightest remembrances are those of God's presence and upholding grace and love in solitude and sadness.

How many pilgrims, still passing through these Red Seas and Jordans of earthly affliction, will be enabled in the retrospect of eternity to say-full of the memories of God's great goodness-"We went through the flood on foot, there-there, in these dark experiences, with the surging waves on every side, deep calling to deep, Jordan, as when Israel crossed it, in 'the time of the overflowing' (flood), yet, 'there did we rejoice in Him!'"

~Dr. Macduff~

Hos 2:15  And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

Let Them Alone!

God sometimes leaves men to themselves...their furious passions are unchained, and they are given up, without restraint, to the lusts of their own evil hearts!

A more dreadful judgment than this, cannot be inflicted on this side of hell. 

Matthew Henry writes, "People go on in sin until the Lord says, 'Let them alone!' 

Then they receive no more warnings and feel no more convictions.

Satan takes full possession of them and they ripen for destruction!

It is a sad and sore judgment for any man to be let alone in sin! 

Those who are not disturbed in their sin will be destroyed for their sin!

May we be kept from this dreadful state;

For the wrath of God, like a strong tempest will soon hurry all impenitent sinners into eternal ruin!"

~John Newton~

Lean Hard!

It is by an act of simple, prayerful faith that we transfer our cares and anxieties, our sorrows and needs, to the Lord.

Jesus invites you come and lean upon Him, and to lean with all your might upon that arm that balances the universe, and upon that bosom that bled for you upon the soldier's spear!

But you doubtingly ask, "Is the Lord able to do this thing for me?"

And thus, while you are debating a matter about which there is not the shadow of a shade of doubt, the burden is crushing your gentle spirit to the dust.

And all the while Jesus stands at your side and lovingly says, "Cast your burden upon Me and I will sustain you.

I am God Almighty! I bore the load of your sin and condemnation up the steep of Calvary; and the same power of omnipotence, and the same strength of love that bore it all for you then - is prepared to bear your need and sorrow now.

Roll it all upon Me! Child of My love! Lean Hard! Let Me feel the pressure of your care.

I know your burden, child! I shaped it I poised it in My own hand and made no proportion of its weight to your unaided strength.

For even as I laid it on, I said I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, this burden shall be Mine, not hers.

So shall I keep My child within the encircling arms of My own love.

Here lay it down!

Do not fear to impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of worlds!

Yet closer come! You are not near enough!

I would embrace your burden, so I might feel My child reposing on My bosom.

You love Me! I know it. Doubt not, then. But, loving me, lean hard!" 

~Octavius Winslow~

He Is A Fool!

You will not be persecuted for holding gospel  truths in the head; but for having grace in your heart; for the former will not cause you to differ from the world. 

When the fruits of the Spirit manifest themselves in your life; when you are blind to your own interest in this world; when you are deaf to the advice of the worldly-wise, then it will be said of you, He is a changed man; he is a fool! 

Now, my dear brother, be assured of this, as God works in your dark soul, such changes as these will be caused; so that instead of panting after the riches of this world, you will pant after the unsearchable riches of Christ! 

Human nature cannot and will not make great sacrifices; but as you have a knowledge given to you by the Spirit of the exceeding great and precious promises laid up in Christ for God's chosen few, you will be led to see the nothingness and vanity of all things here below, and you will with joy cry out, We have a kingdom which cannot be moved!

God, by His Spirit, quickens, and He alone can enable you to separate from your old companions and the world, and so make great sacrifices for Christ's sake, who has died that you might live; who became poor that you through His poverty might be made rich!

~William Tiptaft~

Desperate Situations

Act 12:7  And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

Act 16:25  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
 
Act 16:26  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

This is God's way. In the darkest hours of the night, His tread draws near across the billows.

As the day of execution is breaking, the angel comes to Peter's cell.

When the scaffold for Mordecai is complete, the royal sleeplessness leads to a reaction in favor of the favored race.

Ah, soul, it may have to come to the worst with thee ere thou art delivered; but thou wilt be delivered!

God may keep thee waiting, but he will ever be mindful of His covenant, and will appear to fulfill His inviolable Word.

~F. B. Meyer~

There's a simplicity about God in working out His plans, yet a resourcefulness equal to any difficulty, and an unswerving faithfulness to His trusting child, and an unforgetting steadiness in holding to His purpose.

Through a fellow-prisoner, then a dream, He lifts Joseph from a prison to a premiership. And the length of stay in the prison prevents dizziness in the premier.

It's safe to trust God's methods and to go by His clock.

~S. D. Gordon~

Providence hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a desperate case.

Let us be faithful; and care for our own part which is to suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there.

~George MacDonald~

Difficulty is the very atmosphere of miracle-it is miracle in its first stage.

If it is to be a great miracle, the condition is not difficulty but impossibility.

The clinging hand of His child makes a desperate situation a delight to Him.

The Omnipotence Of GOD

Rev 19:6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
 

Believer! what can better support and sustain you amid the trials of your pilgrimage, than the thought that you have an Omnipotent arm to lean upon?

The God with whom you have to do is boundless in His resources!

There is no crossing His designs no thwarting His purposes no questioning His counsels.

His mandate is law! "He speaks and it is done!" 

Your need is great.

From the humblest crumb of providential goodness, up to the richest blessing of Divine grace you are hanging from moment to moment, as a poor pensioner on Jehovah's bounty!

But, fear not! "I am the Almighty God!" Finite necessities can never exhaust My infinite fullness!

My God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus! 

To You, O blessed Jesus! all power has been committed in Heaven and in earth.

ALL power! He has in His hands the reigns of universal empire!

To "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" has been entrusted the seven-sealed scroll of Providence. 

Whatever is the blessing which the poorest, weakest, loneliest, most afflicted of His saints require-if it is really for their good-the Wonderful Counselor secures it.

As a Prince, He has power with God, and must prevail.

He combines in His adorable Person, all that a sinner requires: a Heart tender enough to love; and a Hand strong enough to save.

The Elder Brother! the "Mighty God!"

How He delights in the exercise of His omnipotence in behalf of His own people-in ruling over their interests, and overruling their trials for their eternal good!

When He prays for Himself, it is "Not My will." 

When He prays for them, it is, "Father, I will!"

I may well take the motto which He still bears on His breastplate before the Throne, as the ground of support and encouragement in all time of tribulation, able to save to the uttermost!

My enemies are many - their name is Legion:
 

Satan, the great adversary; heart traitors- bosom sins; the world, and the world's trinity: the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life!
 

But He who is for me, is greater far than all that can be against me.

He is "stronger" than the "strong man."

Christ the Power of God. "I, who speak in righteousness, am mighty to save!"

Believer, are you in trial, beaten down with a great fight of afflictions like the disciples, out in a midnight of storm, buffeting a sea of trouble? 

Fear not! When the tempest has done its work, when the trial has fulfilled its mission the voice which hushed the waters of old, has only to give forth the omnipotent mandate, "Peace, be still!"

And immediately there will be a great calm!

The "all power" of Jesus! what a pillow on which to rest my aching head; disarming all my fears, and inducing thoughts of sweetest comfort, consolation, and joy!

Psa 4:8  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

~John Macduff~

Progressiveness In GOD'S Dealings

In the course of our spiritual history God deals with us in ever-deepening ways.

Down, down, down, He goes, until He touches bottom to have things true at our very depth. 

He undercuts all our professions, doctrines, assumptions, pretensions, illusions, and customs.

There is no mere formalism about this; no mere Jewish ritual in this; no mere outward observance of rites and ceremonies in this! No! 

This has got to go right into the inmost being, in the inward parts.

God works toward that. God is ever working toward the most inward parts.

Do you recognize that?

Do you understand what He is doing with us? 

Oh, He will meet us with blessing on a certain level, as we walk before Him, like the man in Psalm 1.

He will meet us with His gracious provision when we transgress and trespass and fail, and do wrong - He will meet us there in grace.

But God is going to pursue this matter to the most inward place of our being, and register there His work of grace and redemption.

Thou desirest...and David did not come to that until he reached the profoundest, the deepest place of need, of failure, of conscious weakness and worthlessness.

Then he cried. 

It is not enough to just please God in ordinary ways;

It is not enough to observe the ritual of the Law, and go to the ceremonies, and carry out all that which is external.

God is after truth in the inward parts, right down into the depths of our being.

Why? Why?

Because truth is a major feature and constituent of the Divine nature.

God is called the God of Truth;

Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead, called Himself the Truth...

I am... the truth; "To this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth";

The Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Truth--"when He, the Spirit of truth, is come".

The Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are characterized by this one feature - TRUTH!

And God desires and has set His heart upon having people who are partakers of the Divine nature, and so He is working ever more deeply toward this end:

What is true of Himself shall be true of His children - those begotten of Him...

That they should be true sons of God in this sense.

~T. Austin Sparks~

"In The Secret Place Of The Stairs"

Song Of Solomon 2:14  O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
 
The dove is in the cleft of the rock-the riven side of our Lord. 

There is comfort and security there. It is also in the secret places of the stairs.

It loves to build its nest in the high towers to which men mount the winding stairs for hundreds of feet above the ground.

What a glorious vision is there obtained of the surrounding scenery.

It is a picture of ascending life.

To reach its highest altitudes we must find the secret places of the stairs.

That is the only way to rise above the natural plane.

Our life should be one of quiet mounting with occasional resting places; but we should be mounting higher step by step. 

Everybody does not find this way of secret ascent.

It is for God's chosen ones.

The world may think you are going down.

You may not have as much public work to do as formerly.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

It is a secret, hidden life.

We may be hardly aware that we are growing, till some day a test comes and we find we are established.

Have you got above the power of sin so that Christ is keeping you from willful disobedience?

Does it give you a shudder to know the consciousness of sin? 

Are you lifted above the world?

~A. B. Simpson~