When The Bird Of Thought Was Let Go!

Anyone who wishes to check on his true spiritual condition may do so, by noting what his voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days.
 
What has he thought about, when free to think of whatever he pleased?
 
Toward what has his inner heart turned, when it was free to turn wherever it desired?

When the bird of thought was let go, did it fly out like the raven to settle upon floating carcasses-or did it like the dove circle and return again to the ark of God?

Such a test is easy to run, and if we are honest with ourselves-we can discover not only what we are, but what we are going to become. 

We will soon be the sum of our voluntary thoughts!

~A. W. Tozer~

His Service, Face, Name

Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.                                                      

Three choice blessings will be ours in the gloryland. "His servants shall serve him." 

No other lords shall oppress us, no other service shall distress us. 

We shall serve Jesus always, perfectly, without weariness, and without error. 

This is heaven to a saint: in all things to serve the LORD Christ and to be owned by Him as His servant is our soul's high ambition for eternity.

And they shall see his face....

This makes the service delightful: indeed, it is the present reward of service. 

We shall know our LORD, for we shall see Him as He is. 

To see the face of Jesus is the utmost favor that the most faithful servant of the LORD can ask. 

What more could Moses ask than-"Let me see thy face?" 

And his name shall be in their foreheads.

They gaze upon their LORD till His name is photographed upon their brows. 

They are acknowledged by Him, and they acknowledge Him. 

The secret mark of inward grace develops into the public sign-manual of confessed relationship.
 
O LORD, give us these three things in their beginnings here that we may possess them in their fullness in Thine own abode of bliss!

~Charles Spurgeon~

God First, Then Extras

                                                      
Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

See how the Bible opens: "In the beginning God." 

Let your life open in the same way. 

Seek with your whole soul, first and foremost, the kingdom of God, as the place of your citizenship, and His righteousness as the character of your life. 

As for the rest, it will come from the LORD Himself without your being anxious concerning it. 

All that is needful for this life and godliness "shall be added unto you."

What a promise this is!

Food, raiment, home, and so forth, God undertakes to add to you while you seek Him.

You mind His business, and He will mind yours.

If you want paper and string, you get them given in when you buy more important goods...

And just so all that we need of earthly things we shall have thrown in with the kingdom. 

He who is an heir of salvation shall not die of starvation...

And he who clothes his soul with the righteousness of God cannot be left of the LORD with a naked body. 

Away with carping care. 

Set all your mind upon seeking the LORD. 

Covetousness is poverty, and anxiety is misery:

Trust in God is an estate, and likeness of God is a heavenly inheritance. 

LORD, I seek Thee; be found of me.

~Charles Spurgeon~

God's Multiplication Table

Works for the LORD often begin on a small scale, and they are none the worse for this. 

Feebleness educates faith, brings God near, and wins glory for His name. 

Prize promises of increase! 

Mustard seed is the smallest among seeds, and yet it becomes a treelike plant, with branches which lodge the birds of heaven.

We may begin with one, and that "a little one," and yet it will "become a thousand." 

The LORD is great at the multiplication table. 

How often did He say to His lone servant, "I will multiply thee!" 

Trust in the LORD, ye ones and twos; for He will be in the midst of you if you are gathered in His name. 

A small one. What can be more despicable in the eyes of those who count heads and weigh forces! 

Yet this is the nucleus of a great nation. 

Only one star shines out at first in the evening, but soon the sky is crowded with countless lights. 

Nor need we think the prospect of increase to be remote, for the promise is, "I Jehovah will hasten it in his time."

There will be no premature haste, like that which we see at excited meetings; it will be all in due time, but yet there will be no delay. 

When the LORD hastens, His speed is glorious.

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Warning Against Hardness Of Heart

                                      
Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

The children of Israel in their coming out of Egypt, and in their forty years sojourn in the wilderness, represented the visible Church of the living God; not the secret and elect body of the redeemed, but the professing company of the outward Church.

They were very prone to the great sin of unbelief.

They believed in God after a fashion while they saw his wonders, but the moment they were brought into straits or difficulties, they at once began to doubt the power or Jehovah, and to cast off all reverence for his authority. 

Hence they fell into another sin which at last fastened on them so as to become a part of their nature...

They became stiff-necked, obstinate, rebellious, perverse, and hard of heart.

They would not learn, although their lesson-book had miracles for its pictures. 

Their hearts became so hard that although they saw all the great things which God did for them, they despised the pleasant land...

And were ready at times for the sake of the flesh-pots of Egypt, to wear again the yoke of Pharaoh, and to die the inglorious death of slaves. 

Such, also, are the great sins of the Christian Church...

Unbelief the root, and obstinacy the fruit. 

Brethren and sisters, if we know our own hearts, we must confess that unbelief is a sin which does very easily beset us, and that our obstinacy may well provoke the Lord to anger.

We rejoice in God while the rocks run with rivers, and while the daily manna drops about our tents...

But when the fiery serpent bites us...

Or the wells are bitter...

Or our comforts are in any way interfered with...

We begin to distrust and to suspect the faithfulness of God...

And, as the result of this, there is an obstinacy about us which often inclines us to stand out against the plain precepts of God...

Because, forsooth, in the judgment of our unbelief, obedience might lead us into trouble, and disobedience might make our path smooth. 

Oh that it were not, too sadly true that God's people are liable to be overtaken by the worst of sins! 

Egypt itself did not produce worse sins than those which provoked the Lord to anger in the camp of Israel...

And to this day the Church has some in it who defile her with all the sins of the world.

I do not mean to insinuate that the Church of God is not infinitely to be preferred to the world in character; God forbid that I should slander the fair bride of Christ, she is as much superior to the world as the curtains of Solomon excel the smoke blacked tents of Kedar;

But who dares deny that there are specimens to be found of the worst of sins occurring among true believers...

Just as in the most carefully tended garden there will spring up here and there some of the most noxious weeds...

Not that the weeds are permitted to smother the whole garden and kill the flowers, but that their coming there while men sleep, is an indication of what the soil is, and a plain manifestation that although the garden is very different from the piece of waste ground on the other side of the wall, yet it differs not in nature, but owes all its superiority to the culture of the husbandman...

Even as the saints owe all their excellence above the very chief of sinners, to the guardian care and omnipotent grace of the great lover of souls.

It seems, dear friends, that it is really necessary to warn God's people, although they have received the new nature, and are partakers of the adoption, against being hardened in heart through the deceitfulness of sin, and that there is a machinery provided by which the saints may be preserved from this great evil. 

Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

~T. Austin Sparks~

"If Thou Canst Believe"

Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
 
A certain man had a demoniac son, who was afflicted with a dumb spirit. 

The father, having seen the futility of the endeavors of the disciples to heal his child, had little or no faith in Christ, and therefore, when he was bidden to bring his son to him, he said to Jesus, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” 

Now there was an “if” in the question, but the poor trembling father had put the “if” in the wrong place: 

Jesus Christ, therefore, without commanding him to retract the “if,” kindly puts it in its legitimate position...

Nay, verily, he seemed to say, “there should be no ‘if’ about my power, nor concerning my willingness, the ‘if’ lies somewhere else.”

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

The man’s trust was strengthened, he offered a humble prayer for an increase of faith, and instantly Jesus spoke the word, and the devil was cast out, with an injunction never to return. 

There is a lesson here which we need to learn. 

We, like this man, often see that there is an “if” somewhere, but we are perpetually blundering by putting it in the wrong place.

If Jesus can help me...

If he can give me grace to overcome temptation...

If he can give me pardon...

If he can make me successful? 

Nay, “if” you can believe, he both can and will. 

You have misplaced your “if.”

If you can confidently trust, even as all things are possible to Christ, so shall all things be possible to you. 

Faith standeth in God’s power, and is robed in God’s majesty...

It weareth the royal apparel, and rideth on the King’s horse...

For it is the grace which the King delighteth to honor. 

Girding itself with the glorious might of the all-working Spirit, it becomes, in the omnipotence of God, mighty to do, to dare, and to suffer. 

All things, without limit, are possible to him that believeth. 

My soul, canst thou believe thy Lord tonight?

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Zero Point

There are still a lot of people in this world who think that there is something in man that can contribute to the glory of God...

And that Christianity is only the bringing up out of man of something that is for the glory of God.

That is a long, long-standing fallacy and lie. 

It is not true.

Call it what you like; it goes by various names, such as "the inner light" or "the vital spark."

The Word of God all the way through is coming down tremendously on this thing.

I start at zero, and zero for me means that I can contribute nothing.

Everything has to come from God.

The very fact that the gift of God is eternal Life means that you have not got it until it is given to you.

You are blind until God gives you the faculty of sight.

You are dead until God gives you Life.

You are a hopeless cripple until God does something for you and in you which you can never do.

Unless God does this thing, unless this act takes place, well, there you lie.

Spiritually, that is how you are.

You can contribute nothing....

This is one of the great lessons that you and I have to learn in the School of Christ, that God begins for His glory at zero...

And God will take pains through the Holy Spirit to make us to know that it is zero...

That is, to bring us consciously to zero, and make us realize it is all with Him....

Have we got settled on this?

We take so long to learn these basic elementary lessons.

We do still cling to some sort of idea that we can produce something...

And all our miserable days are simply the result of still hoping that we can in some way provide the Lord with something.

Not being able to find it, but breaking down all the time, we get miserable, perfectly miserable.

It takes us so long to come to the place where we do fully and finally settle this matter...

That if we lived as long as ever man lived on this earth, we shall not be able to contribute one iota which can be acceptable to God...

And which He can take and use for our salvation...

For our sanctification...

For our glorification...

Not a bit.

All that He can use is His Son...

And the measure of our ultimate glory will be the measure of Christ in us, just that.

~T. Austin Sparks~

We See Hands And Feet And Side, All Pouring Forth Crimson Streams Of Precious Blood!

1Pe 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands and feet and side, all pouring forth crimson streams of precious blood!

Christ's blood is precious because of its redeeming and atoning efficacy. 

By it, all the sins of all Christ's people are atoned for!

Christ's blood is also precious in its cleansing power. 

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Through Jesus' blood, there is not a spot left upon any believer-no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. 

Oh, precious cleansing blood-which removes the stains of abundant iniquity, and allows us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God.

The blood of Christ is likewise precious in its preserving power. 

Under the sprinkled blood, we are safe from the destroying angel.  

Remember that it is God's seeing the blood, which is the true reason for our being spared.

Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same.

The blood of Christ is precious also in its sanctifying influence. 

The same blood that justifies by taking away sin-quickens the new nature and leads it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God.

There is no motive for holiness so great, as that which streams from the veins of Jesus!

~Charles Spurgeon~
                                                                         

Sought Out!

Isa 62:12  And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. 

The surpassing grace of God is seen very clearly, in that He has Sought Out His chosen people.

Glory be to infinite love and unconquerable grace-we were sought out! 

No gloom could hide us, no filthiness could conceal us! 

We were sought out, found and brought home.

The lives of some of God's people, if they could be written, would fill us with holy astonishment.

Marvelous and wondrous are the ways that God uses to find His own people. 

Blessed be His name, He never relinquishes the search, until His chosen ones are effectually sought out and brought home.

Christians are not a people sought today-and cast away tomorrow. 

Almightiness and wisdom combined, will make no failures. 

They shall be called "Sought out!"

That any should be sought out is matchless grace-but that we should be sought out, is grace beyond degree! 

We can find no reason for it, but God's own sovereign love!

We lift up our heart in astonishment, and praise the Lord that we wear the name of "Sought out!"

Luke 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God;
 
He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood!

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Spring Of True Obedience To God!

2John 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Love to God is the spring of true obedience to God.

One who is not obedient to His commandments, is evidently not a true believer...

For although good works do not save us...yet, being saved, believers are sure to produce good works.

Though the fruit is not the root of the tree...yet a well-rooted tree will, in its season, bring forth its fruits. 

So, though the keeping of the commandments does not make me a child of God...yet, being a child of God, I shall be obedient to my heavenly Father. 

But this I cannot be, unless I love God.

A mere external formal obedience is not sincere obedience in God's sight. 

He abhors the sacrifice, where the heart is not found. 

I must obey Him because I love Him or else I have not truly obeyed at all. 

See then, that to produce the indispensable fruits of saving faith...there must be sincere love for God.

John 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
 
John 14:24  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

~Charles Spurgeon~
 

Deliverance Not Limited

Job 5:19  He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 

Eliphaz in this spoke the truth of God...

We may have as many troubles as the workdays of the week, but the God who worked on those six days will work for us till our deliverance is complete. 

We shall rest with Him and in Him on our Sabbath.

The rapid succession of trials is one of the sorest tests of faith. 

Before we have recovered from one blow it is followed by another and another till we are staggered. 

Still, the equally quick succession of deliverances is exceedingly cheering. 

New songs are rung out upon the anvil by the hammer of affliction, till we see in the spiritual world the antitype of "the Harmonious Blacksmith." 

Our confidence is that when the LORD makes our trials six... six they will be and no more.

It may be that we have no rest day, for seamen troubles come upon us. 

What then? 

In seven there shall be no evil touch thee.

Evil may roar at us, but it shall be kept at more than arm's length and shall not even touch us. 

Its hot breath may distress us, but its little finger cannot be laid upon us. 

With our loins girt about us, we will meet the six or the seven troubles and leave fear to those who have no Father, no Savior, and no Sanctifier.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Child Chastisement Not Forever

1Ki 11:39  And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever. 

In the family of grace there is discipline, and that discipline is severe enough to make it an evil and a bitter thing to sin. 

Solomon, turned aside by his foreign wives, had set up other gods and grievously provoked the God of his father; therefore, ten parts out of twelve of the kingdom were rent away and set up as a rival state. 

This was a sore affliction to the house of David, and it came upon that dynasty distinctly from the hand of God, as the result of unholy conduct. 

The LORD will chasten His best beloved servants if they cease from full obedience to His laws...

Perhaps at this very hour such chastening is upon us. 

Let us humbly cry, "O LORD, show me wherefore thou contendest with me." 

What a sweet saving clause is that..."but not for ever"!

The punishment of sin is everlasting, but the fatherly chastisement of it in a child of God is but for a season. 

The sickness, the poverty, the depression of spirit, will pass away when they have had their intended effect. 

Remember, we are not under law but under grace, 

The rod may make us smart, but the sword shall not make us die. 

Our present grief is meant to bring us to repentance that we may not be destroyed with the wicked.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Law In The Heart

                                                    
Put the law into the heart, and the whole man is right. 

This is where the law should be; for then it lies, like the tables of stone in the ark, in the place appointed for it. 

In the head it puzzles, on the back it burdens, in the heart it upholds.

What a choice word is here used, "the law of his God"! 

When we know the LORD as our own God His law becomes liberty to us. 

God with us in covenant makes us eager to obey His will and walk in His commands.

Is the precept my Father's precept? Then I delight in it.

We are here guaranteed that obedient-hearted man shall be sustained in every step that he takes. 

He will do that which is right, and he shall therefore do that which is wise. 

Holy action is always the most prudent, though it may not at the time seem to be so...

We are moving along the great highroad of God's providence and grace when we keep to the way of His law. 

The Word of God has never misled a single soul yet...

Its plain directions to walk humbly, justly, lovingly, and in the fear of the LORD are as much words of wisdom to make our way prosperous as rules of holiness to keep our garments clean. 

He walks surely who walks righteously. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

An Appeal; Deliverance

This is a Promise Indeed!

Here is an urgent occasion..."the day of trouble." 

It is dark at noon on such a day, and every hour seems blacker than the one which came before it. 

Then is this promise in season: it is written for the cloudy day.

Here is condescending advice, "Call upon me." 

We ought not to need the exhortation: it should be our constant habit all the day and every day. 

What a mercy to have liberty to call upon God! 

What wisdom to make good use of it! 

How foolish to go running about to men! 

The LORD invites us to lay our case before Him, and surely we will not hesitate to do so.

Here is reassuring encouragement: "I will deliver thee." 

Whatever the trouble may be, the LORD makes no exceptions but promises full, sure, happy deliverance. 

He will Himself work out our deliverance by His own hand. 

We believe it, and the LORD honors faith.

Here is an ultimate result: "Thou shalt glorify me." 

Ah, that we will do most abundantly. 

When He has delivered us we will loudly praise Him; and as He is sure to do it, let us begin to glorify Him at once.

~Charles Spurgeon~