His Place Devotional

2011-08-28T03:45:00.000-07:00

"Judge not."

Matthew 7:1

The Lord Jesus said to Peter, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 16:19) Every child of God can open the kingdom to anyone, even to the worst of men, by proclaiming to him Christ's forgiveness. But the same Jesus said, "I . . . have the keys of hell." (Rev 1:18) These He gave to no one. He reserved them for Himself. Otherwise some of us would have thrown ourselves into hell through foolishness, and we would have doomed to hell those who don't believe like us. A mother gives her child a toy, not a knife with which to cut himself. Therefore, Peter got the keys of heaven, but not of hell.

Luther said of Eramus, his philosophical adversary, "He died without light, without a cross, and without God." which means he doomed him to hell. Eramus' last words were, "Beloved God."
Only one key has been entrusted to you. Open the gates of heaven to others. Don't comdemn anyone. Don't condemn yourself either.

Richard Wurmbrand

2011-08-21T04:58:00.000-07:00

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

Some people try to have faith in their own faith, instead of faith in Jesus Christ. They keep looking for a subjective condition. They ought to be looking to an objective Christ. True faith pays no attention whatever to itself. It centers all its gaze upon Christ.

For faith is not our savior. Faith is simply an attitude of the soul through which Jesus saves. When Satan cannot begile us in any other way, he gets us to scrutinize our faith, instead of looking unto Christ. That Christian has the strongest heart who is the least conscious of its existence. And that faith is the strongest which pays no attention to itself.

You may weaken the heart by centering your anxious attention upon it. So nothing will weaken faith quicker than the constant endeavor to discover it. It is like the child digging up the seed to see if it is growing. It is a curiosity which brings disaster to the seed. It is not a man's faith, but his faith in Christ which saves him. To be looking unto Christ is faith. To be looking unto anything else, even unto faith is a trouble to the soul.

Therefore do not worry about your faith. Do not always be scanning it. Look away from it altogether - unto Jesus. For faith alone is naught. It is only faith in Jesus that counts. Take care that you are depending upon Jesus to save. And faith will take care of itself.

James McConkey

2011-08-14T05:01:00.000-07:00

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Philippians 3:20-21

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

C.S. Lewis

2011-08-07T04:28:00.000-07:00

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Ephesians 5:1-2

I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked God if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me.

Hudson Taylor

2011-07-31T03:18:00.000-07:00

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Psalm 46

Faith is to believe on the Word of God what we do not see, and its reward is to see and enjoy what we believe.

Augustine

2011-07-24T04:15:00.000-07:00

And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Exodus 12:29-30

Where the blood was sprinkled, salvation was the result; and where no blood was seen, the plague fell. God passed through the land that night in judgement, and "there was not a house where there was not one dead." Even in the houses of Israel there was one dead: the lamb, the victim, the substitute. In the houses of Egypt there was also one dead: the first-born.

In the houses of Israel the lamb had died in place of the first-born, and that brought peace to many a household that night.

You might have gone up to a young man in one of the households of Israel, who was the first-born, and asked him, "How is it with you tonight? Have you peace?"

His reply would have been, "Perfect peace!"

We might then ask, "How do you feel?"

He would no doubt reply, "I do not rest on my feelings, but on the word of Jehovah. The blood is upon the doorpost. It was the father's work to put it there - but I assure you I took good care to see that it was done. I was much too intereseted in the matter not to see to it. I would loose my life this night, if the blood were not there. But the blood is there, and Jehovah has said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

So Christian, are you at rest? Perfect rest? The blood is the basis of your peace, not what you feel.

Peace is not a feeling, or an emotion, and not an experiece. Rather, it flows from the fact that the claims of God have been met by the Lamb of God, and God respects His precious blood. The blood of Jesus has reached and touched the very memory of God, for we read in Hebrews 10, "Your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more."

The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, but the blood of Jesus does. Its value God alone knows.

You and I do not know the value of the blood of Christ. We value it surely, but our value of it is very poor and inadequate. God knows its value perfectly, and He esteems its worth fully, and He says to you and me, "Trust that blood. Get under its shelter."

If we can answer, "Lord, I trust it." then God says, "I shall treat you according to my estimate of the value of that blood, not according to yours."

That is wherein peace lies - not on your estimate of the blood of Christ, but on God's estimate. And what is God's estimate of it? He estimates it so highly, that there is nothing too great for Him to do on the ground of it. He delivers you from judgment, and brings you to glory, on the ground of the shed blood of His own dear Son. And more than that, it will give you the sweetest peace and confidence towards God.

W.T.P. Wolston

2011-07-17T03:33:00.000-07:00

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,

John 17:23

We are to understand that God loves us, and that He justifies us by the works of His Son. We have no longer conscience of sins before God, because He Himself has taken them away from before His eyes.

We know that being united to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has fully glorified God in all that concerns our sins, we have been made the righteousness of God in Him. So the heart is free to enjoy His love in the presence of the Father.

John Darby

2011-07-10T03:54:00.000-07:00

I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

Acts 24:16

Regret for a sinful past will remain until we truly believe that for us in the Lord Jesus, that sinful past no longer exists.

The believer in Christ has only His past and that is perfect and acceptable to the Father.

Andrew Murray

2011-07-03T04:28:00.000-07:00

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods.

Psalm 95:1-3

You cannot imagine God, you can only come to meet Him. He is bigger than all my imaginations!

BMS

2011-06-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1

If God announces the gift of righteousness apart from works, why do you keep mourning over your bad works, your failures? Do you not see that it is because you still have hopes in these works of yours that you are depressed and discouraged by their failure? If you truly saw and believed that God is reckoning righteous the ungodly who believe on Him, you would fairly hate your struggles to be "better," for you would see that your dreams of good works have not at all commended you to God, and that your bad works do not at all hinder you from believing on Him - that justifies the ungodly

Therefore, on seeing your failures, you should say, I am nothing but a failure; but God is dealing with me on another principle altogether than my works, good or bad - a pinciple not involving my works, but based only on the works of Christ for me. I am anxious indeed to be pleasing to God and to be filled with His Spirit; but I am not at all justified, or accounted righteous, by these things. God, in justifying me, acted wholly and only in Christ's blood-shedding on my behalf.

Therefore I have this double attitude: first, I know that Christ is in Heaven before God for me, and that I stand in the value before God of His finished work; that God sees me nowhere else but in this dead, buried, and Risen Christ, and that His favor is toward me in Christ, and is limitless and eternal.

Then, second, toward the work of the Holy Spirit in me, my attitude is, a desire to be guided into the truth, to be obedient thereto, and to be chastened by God my Father if disobedient; to learn to pray in the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and to be filled with a love for the Scriptures and for the saints and for all men.

Yet none of these things justifies me! I had justification from God as a sinner, not as a saint! My saintliness does not increase it, nor, praise God, do my failures decrease it!

William R. Newell

2011-06-19T03:59:00.000-07:00

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Genesis 32:24-28

The Lord cannot fully bless a man until He has first conquered him. The degree of blessing enjoyed by any man will correspond exactly with the completeness of God's victory over him.

A.W. Tozer

2011-06-12T03:36:00.000-07:00

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

An American urged a friend of his who had just arrived in this country from Thailand, "Quick, let's run to catch the bus!" Once inside, the happy American said, "We have gained three minutes." The Thai asked, "What do you intend to do with them?"

Men in advanced Western countries have no answer to this question. Our generation has forgotten how to walk. It knows only how to run and to drive.

Jesus never ran; He only walked. There were chariots, horses, and camels in His day but we don't read that He used them. It is recorded only once that He rode, and then on an animal which advances at an even slower pace than a human walk.

We do well to save minutes. Every minute is a jewel, but we often realize its value too late. The story is told about a man who walked in the dark along the shore of a river. He stumbled on a small bag containing stone, which he picked up. As a pastime, he amused himself by throwing a stone in the river every once in a while. He liked to hear the plitch-plitch in the water. When he arrived home, only two stones were left in the bag. He saw they were diamonds.

We run to save minutes and squander what we have saved in unworthy activities, conversations, and amusements. A cashier is answerable for every cent that has passed through his hands. A man who has lived seventy years will answer before God for thirty-seven million minutes.

Richard Wurmbrand

2011-05-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

. . . all that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

John 6:37b

I have committed myself and my all into God's hands, and He has accepted the offering. Life henceforth can never be the same.

Charles Cowman

2011-05-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

Spiritual growth is the Holy Spirit engraving the Lord Jesus on a man's heart, putting Him into his thoughts, his works, and his ways, just as the Law was engraved upon stones. It is not that there is no failure. A man who is seeking to make money does not always succeed; but everybody knows what his object is. Just so, the Lord Jesus Christ is the object of the believer's life.

John Darby

2011-05-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

1Kings 19:12

Only in the silence of all flesh can the still, small voice be heard. A large part of the difficulty experienced by Christians in hearing the voice of the Lord arises from the absence of this inward stillness.

Our own internal clamor drowns His quiet speaking. We listen for His voice in the wind and in the earthquake, expecting their thunder to sound above all our own clamoring; and because we are disappointed, we complain that He does not speak at all, when all the while the still small voice of His love is waiting for the quiet in which it can be heard.

I am convinced that there are many at this moment hungering for the voice of the Lord, who would hear it at once if they would but be silent before Him for a little while. This is the foundation thought of the silent meetings of the Quaker Friends, even though it may be that their outward stillness does not always secure the perfect inward stillness that is the vital thing.

All the saints of old have insisted upon stillness as a necessity of true communion with God and have exhorted their followers to cultivate it, and every saint of the pressent day knows its value.

Hannah Whitall Smith

2011-05-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe . . .

Exodus 2:5a

Who would have thought that from such a little thing as Pharaoh's daughter going to bathe in the river of Egypt would spring the deliverance of Israel?

The mind of Christ in us is chiefly to be seen in little things. To walk before God in the everyday matters of life, and to have our words and actions savored daily with the name of Jesus, this is true holiness.

In the least matters what need is there of looking upwards! I ought not to write a note without looking up to God, seeking his help; for I can write folly enough in one sentence to cause myself and others disquietude for months.

Let us turn every circumstance of the day into an occasion of communication with God. Things of small amount will then bring us great blessings.

In small points of obedience are found the best test of the soul's state.

What great grace it needs to find no excuses for our little faults! - still greater to confess them!

Robert C. Chapman

2011-05-01T04:40:00.000-07:00

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

In Christ Jesus, the believer finds strength for all things. Christ is between him and all weakness; and he can say, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.

When Paul confronted the thorn in the flesh and besaught the Lord three times that it might depart from him, he learned that great lesson that His grace is sufficient for him; His strength is made perfect in weakness - notice "made perfect" - not only made manifest.

Had God said to him, "I will reveal my strength in your infirmity," it would have been a great assurance; but, far better than this, only in the weakness of man can God display the perfection of His strength.

The weaker we are and feel ourselves to be, the stronger He can prove Himself to be; so that ony when we become perfectly hopeless and helpless in ourselves and absolutely abandon ourselves to Him, can He fully and perfectly glorify His own grace. Omnipotence needs impotence for its sphere of working.

Arthur J. Pierson

2011-04-24T04:12:00.000-07:00

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

I am You. You are I. I am not You, You are not I. I and you, we are a new being: an I-You.

St. Gertrude

2011-04-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" So he answered and said, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND,' and 'YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Luke 10:25-37

Abou Ben Adhem awoke one night from a dream - so runs the legend - and saw an angel writing in a golden book. He asked, "What are you writing?" The angel replied, "The names of those who love the Lord." He asked if his name was there, and the angel told him, "No." And so he begged,

I pray thee then,

Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote and vanished. The next night

It came again with a great awakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blest,

And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

Richard Wurmbrand

2011-04-10T04:44:00.000-07:00

I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

John 7:15-19

In some countries today there is a great effort among the large Christian bodies to make the Church popular. Every conceivable scheme is being brought into play in order to attract people to the Church. It is forgotten that the true church can never be attractive to the world, and was never meant to be. It is something which is completely beyond the world's understanding. People are brought into the church through the witness of the Lord's children who comprise the church. When the life of Christ is expressed through a spiritual order, believers will maintain a witness that is spiritually effective. Others will regenerated, and they will be added to the church, not because they, as wordly people, were attracted to it, but because they have been subject to a divine change which enables them to enter into life on a higher plane. The church's mission is not to fit into the world, but to see men change so that they will fit into the church.

John Kennedy

2011-04-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5:10-13

Dare to believe what you say you believe.

BMS

2011-03-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

. . . and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

For a Christian to have solitude is of the deepest importance, because it is then the heart renews its acquaintance with Him who only has entrance into our most solitary retreats. When we are thoroughly alone and apart He loves to be our visitor.

J.B. Stoney

2011-03-20T04:14:00.000-07:00

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

We ought to be patient, for He is the doer of everything - and when we are not patient, we really are finding fault with Him and His doing.

George V. Wigram

2011-03-13T05:01:00.000-07:00

So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

John 20:21-22

I believe the "show business" which is incorporated into so much Christian work today is causing the church to drift far from the conception of our Lord concerning discipleship.

It seems to be instilled in us that we have to do something exceptional for God as a sort of token, as an example of courage and of sacrifice at which everybody will gaze, openmouthed, and say, "What a wonderful man!"

You do not need the grace of God for that. Human nature and human pride will take us through many a crisis in life, and make us do what seems to be the big thing in leaving our home and offering ourselves for Christian service.

"My, what a man," says the world. That requires no grace; it appeals to the flesh. But I want to say to you from the depths of my heart that it needs all the grace of God to go through drudgery and poverty, to live an ignored existence as a saint, unnoticed by anybody. For if this commission is behind us in Christian work, remember, always we are sent out to be exceptional in ordianry things, among sometimes mean people, in frequently sordid surroundings. Only the man sent by the King of kings could take that, and only the man with a true burden will ever accept it.

After three years of intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, all the disciples forsook Him and fled. They came to the end of themselves and their self-sufficiency, and they realized that if ever they were to be any different, it must be by receiving a different spirit altogether, and Jesus breathed upon them and said, ". . . as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Have you been sent to work that you are doing for God today? If you haven't, the sooner you quit, the better.

Alan Redpath

2011-03-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

John 10:28

The way to heaven is as free as the way to hell. In hell there is an accuser, but in heaven there is no one to condemn. The only being in the universe of God who has a right to judge the sinner is now exalted to be a Savior. Amid the wonders and terrors of that throne, He is a Savior, and He is sitting there in grace.

The Savior shall yet become the Judge, but judgment waits on grace. Sin has reigned, and death can boast its victories, but shall grace not have its triumphs too?

As surely as the sin of man brought death, the grace of God shall bring eternal life to every sinner who believes. One sin brought death, but grace masters all sin. If sin abounded, grace abounds far more. Grace is conqueror. GRACE REIGNS.

Not at the expense of righteousness, but in virtue of it. Righteousness requires the sinner's death, and yet grace has intervened to give him life. Righteousness itself has set grace upon the throne in order that the sinner may have life: "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Such is the triumph of the cross. It has made it possible for God to bless us in perfect harmony with everything He is, and everything He has ever declared Himself to be, and in spite of all that we are, and of all that He has ever said we ought to be.

Sir Robert Anderson

2011-02-27T04:08:00.000-08:00

I will be like the dew to Israel . . .

Hosea 14:5

Have you noticed that this old earth receives a fresh baptism of life daily? Every night the life-giving dew falls. The moisture rises during the day from ocean, and lake, and river, undergoes a chemical change in God's laboratory and returns nightly in dew to refresh the earth.

It brings to all nature new life, with rare beauty, and fills the air with the exquisite fragrance drawn from flowers and plants. Its power to purify and revitalize is peculiar and remarkable. It falls only in the night when the world is at rest. It can come only on clear calm nights. Both cloud and wind disturb and prevent its working. It comes quietly and works noiselessly. But the changes effected are radical and immeasurable. Literally it gives to the earth a nightly baptism of new life. That is God's plan for the earth. And that, too, let me say to you, is His plan for our day-by-day life.

It hushes one's heart with a gentle awe to go out early in the morning after a clear night when air and flower and leaf are fragrant with an indescribable freshness, and listen to God's voice saying, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." That sentence is the climax of the book where it occurs. God is trying through Hosea to woo His people away from their evil leaders up to Himself again. To a people who knew well the vitalizing power of the deep dews of an Oriental night, and their own dependence upon them, He says with pleading voice, "I will be to you as the dew."

S. D. Gordon

2011-02-20T03:38:00.000-08:00

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:34

I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of a year to a great bundle of sticks, far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another, which we are to carry tomorrow and so on. This we might easily manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for each day - instead we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over again today, and adding tomorrow's burden to the load, before we are required to carry it.

John Newton

2011-02-13T04:28:00.000-08:00

Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.

Mark 4:5-6

What is a root? It is growth beneath the soil. What are leaves? Growth above the soil. Root is hidden life; leaves are manifest life. The trouble with many Christians is that, while there is much apparent life, there is very little secret life.

You have been a Christian for a number of years, have you not? Then let me ask: How much of your life is hidden from view? How much is unknown to others? You stress outward works. Yes, good works are important; but apart from that manifest expression of your life, how much of your life remains hidden? If all your spiritual life is exposed, then all your growth is upward, and because there is no downward growth you lack root.

In our Christian life it is necessary that we learn the meaning of the Body of Christ; we must learn to live corporately. On the other hand, we must learn that the life given to each member of His Body by the Lord is distinctly individual; and that measure given to you personally by Him needs to be guarded, otherwise it will lose its specific character and will be of no particular use to Him. If that which has been specially committed to you is exposed it will wither.

The discourse of the Lord Jesus on the Mount was most remarkable. On the one hand He said: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid . . . Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16). On the other hand He said: "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them . . . But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret . . . When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: (Matthew 6:1-6).

On the one hand, if you are a Christian you must come right out into the open and make a public profession; on the other hand, there are Christian virtures which you should preserve from the public gaze. The Christian who parades all his virtues has no depth, and because he lacks root he will not be able to stand in the day of trial and temptation. Let us who have been the Lord's children these many years ask Him to show us to what extent our experiences have become exposed to view, and let us ask Him also to work a work in these lives of ours that will ensure our becoming deeply rooted in Him.

Watchman Nee

2011-02-06T03:47:00.000-08:00

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:30-31

The spiritual life is not passive. Too often it may look that way when we speak of ceasing from ourselves and our own efforts. The point is that we need to learn to live and serve by the power God has provided, not self-effort. A true spiritual life is even more active, enlarged and vital because the limitless power of God energizes us. Normally the spiritual Christian will occupy himself with effective service for his Lord. We should be yielded and ready to do whatever He may choose. Spirit-filled Christians are quite likely to feel physical exhaustion at the close of the day the same way other people. They are weary in the work, but not weary of the work.

Lewis Sperry Chafer

2011-01-30T04:31:00.000-08:00

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Luke 10:19

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as twin events, certain definite issues in the conflict between God and Satan were met and eternally settled. The victory over Satan was fully and finally won which robbed him of the last vestige of claim to sovereignty over the earth or the race. He is henceforth a usurper and a thief. Jesus Christ gained back all that had been lost and now the earth and all that is therein are His not only by the right of creation but by right of conquest.

To the believer in Jesus Christ it means that the sovereignty of Satan over his life is ended and the sovereignty of God begins; that he leaves the sphere of sin, death, darkness and disorder, and enters the sphere of righteousness, life, light and liberty; that he ceases to be a subject in the kingdom of Satan and becomes a subject in the Kingdom of God; that he severs his alliance with Satan's system, the world, and avows his allegiance as a member of Christ's Body the Church, to Christ Himself who is its Head.

It means, in other words, that the old creation with all that pertains to it ends at the cross and is buried in the tomb and that a new creation comes forth in the resurrection.

It means that the old relationship with sin, self and Satan is altogether annulled and a new union with God in Christ Jesus is made, and that in this new relationship Christ becomes not only the believer's Savior but his Lord and his Life.

Ruth Paxson

2011-01-23T04:32:00.000-08:00

So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

Genesis 7:16

What we love, we shall grow to resemble.

Bernard of Clairvaux

2011-01-16T04:46:00.000-08:00

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 timothy 2:15

Learning is very real work, and there is no maturing without it, and I do not believe that anyone matures brilliantly who does not learn sufferingly. Easily got - easily gone, is never so true as in the highest things.

J.B Stoney

2011-01-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Eph 4:4-6

The devil is all the time trying to create a sense of distance between us and the Lord. But there is no distance between if we abide in Christ, for no one can be closer to the Father than the Son, and we are in Him!

T.L.M.

2011-01-02T04:50:00.000-08:00

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

John 10:28

It is not God who sends the sinner to hell, it is his own sins. God allows everyone to come to heaven; indeed He invites everyone most earnestly to come in. But sinners themselves feel that it is a torture to stay there; that is why they do not desire it. God does not make their entrance into heaven either difficult or impossible, no, it is their own inner attitude which makes it impossible for them to have any joy in eternal life.

Sadu Sundar Singh

2010-12-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Rom 7:4-6

Good and holy and perfect as the law of God is, it is entirely powerless either to justify or sanctify. It cannot in any way make the old nature better; neither is it the rule of the new nature. The old man is not subject to it, and the new man does not need it. The new creation has another object before it, and another power that acts upon it, in order to produce what is lovely and acceptable to God - Christ the object, realized by the power of the Holy Spirit.

William Kelly

2010-12-19T03:38:00.000-08:00

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

Acts 7:55-56

Christ can never be known without a sense of awe and fear accompanying the knowledge. He is the fairest among ten thousand, but He is also the Lord high and mighty. He is the friend of sinners, but He is also the terror of devils. He is meek and lowly in heart, but He is also Lord and Christ who will surely come to be the Judge of all men. No one who knows Him intimately can ever be flippant in His presence.

A. W. Tozer

2010-12-12T04:24:00.000-08:00

. . . blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed.

John 20:29b

It must be ever remembered that guidance is a matter of faith, not sight

Edward Dennett

2010-12-05T04:59:00.000-08:00

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

John 5:6-10

Anyone can devise a plan by which good people may go to Heaven. Only God can devise a plan whereby sinners, who are His enemies, can go to Heaven.

Lewis Sperry Chafer

2010-11-28T05:16:00.000-08:00

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

John 3:6

Too often we believers have a serious misconception - imagining that while salvation comes to us freely, victory depends on ourselves. We know we cannot add any merit or work of ours to obtain salvation. We must simply come to the cross and accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior. This is the gospel! We realize we cannot be saved by works, yet we reason that for sanctification we must do good works after we are saved. This is to say that though you cannot be saved by works, you need to depend on works for victory.

Let me tell you that just as you are not saved by works, so you do not overcome by works. God has declared that you are unable to do good. Christ has died for you on the cross, and He is now living for you within. That which is of the flesh is flesh, and God rejects all that came from it. Nevertheless, we usually surmise that while salvation is dependent upon the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, we should think of doing good, should do good, and expect to do good for victory in our lives. Let us realize, though, that we can do no good. Victroy is freely given us by God!

Watchan Nee

2010-11-21T04:17:00.000-08:00

. . . the strength of sin is the law.

1 Corinthians 15:56b

Some good Christians who in sad error, would impose the law as a rule of life for the believer means very well by it - for they strive to be righteous - but the whole principle is false. The law, instead of being a rule of life, is necessarily a rule of death to one who has a sin nature. Far from being a delivering power, it can only condemn. Far from being a means of holiness, it is, in fact, according to Paul, "the strength of sin."

William Kelly

2010-11-14T03:14:00.000-08:00

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

James 1:17

I was not saved because I was good. God saved me because He is good.

J.D.

2010-11-07T03:46:00.000-08:00

"Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said." And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.

Joshua 14:12-14

Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces. Sanctified ambitions are spiritual promotions.

Matthew Henry

2010-10-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

1 Timothy 2:15

When Esther had obtained grace at the hands of King Ahasuerus and was to undo as far as possible the evil which Haman had already been authorized to inflict upon her people, she was authorized to write a letter in the King's name and seal it with the king's ring, permitting the Jews to resist to the utmost all assults upon them.

This seal gave the full authorization of the king to her letter. It might be written in the faint, trembling hand of the woman, or in the strong hand of Mordecai, but what gave it authority and value was the seal of the king.

A gentleman of wealth desires to give a check. His bookkeeper has left the office, and he gets an office boy to fill out the name and amount on the blank form. The boy brings the check, written in his cramped, unsightly style, to the master, who signs it with his name.

Is the check any less valuable because written by the boy? Would it be worth more if written in the firm, elegant hand of the bookkeeper? Not a cent more. The name of the gentleman authenticates it and imparts to it its full value, for which all his deposit in bank is responsible.

So with the seal of the Spirit. We are, in one way, but poorly written epistles of Christ. With some of us the handwriting is cramped and blotted, and with others faint and trembling, but blessed be God, His signature is ever the same, the Holy Christ Himself!

This authenticates us.

Samuel Ridout

2010-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.

1 Peter 1:6

Faith must pass through the furnace - it will not do to say that we trust in the Lord, we must prove that we do, and that when everything is against us.

C.H. Mackintosh

2010-10-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

The natural mind is ever prone to reason, when we ought to believe; and to be at work, when we ought to be quiet; to go our own way, when we ought steadily to work on in God's ways, however trying to our human nature.

When first converted, I could have said, "What harm can there be to take some of the money, which has been put aside for the Orphanage Building Fund? God will [eventually bless my work for the orphans], and then I can replace it."

I know that many Christians would reason thus. But how does it work, when we thus presume upon God, by going our own way? We bring, in many instances, guilt on our conscience; but if not, we certainly weaken faith, instead of increasing it; and each time we try to work a deliverance of our own; we find it more and more difficult to trust in God, till at last we give way entirely to our natural fallen reason, and unbelief prevails.

How different, if one waits for God's own time, and looks alone to Him for help and deliverance! When at last help comes, after many seasons of prayer it may be, and after much exercise of faith and patience it may be, how sweet it is, and what present recompense does the soul at once receive for trusting in God, and waiting patiently for His deliverance!

Dear Christian reader, if you have never walked in this path of obedience before, do so now, and you will then know experientially the sweetness of joy!

George Mueller

2010-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13

The only power God recognizes in His church is the power of His Spirit whereas the only power actually recognized today by the majority of evangelicals is the power of man. God does His work by the operation of the Spirit, while Christian leaders attempt to do theirs by the power of trained and devoted intellect. Bright personality has taken the place of divine anointing.

Everything that men do in their own strength and by means of their own abilities is done for time alone; the quality of eternity is not in it. Only what is done through the Eternal Spirit will abide eternally; all else is wood, hay, stubble.

A.W. Tozer

2010-10-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

"In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."

John 14:20

God has but one way of revealing Himself. It is "Christ in you." He has no other way of showing Himself to men except as Christ lives in us; not by the Shekinah glory in the temple built with hands of men, but in lives redeemed and freed and cleansed as they walk about in this dark world with Christ living in them.

L.L. Letgers

2010-09-26T04:41:00.000-07:00

Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said." And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.

Joshua 14:12-14

Which would you rather have, a smooth path, or a path so rough that the Lord is compelled to show His face toyou every step of the way?

George V. Wigram

2010-09-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Matt 7:9-11

Let us get it crystal clear in our hearts and mind that the only Person who ever lived the Christian life was Jesus Christ, and the only Person that God ever intended to live the Christian lilfe was Jesus Christ. The only part that you and I play on earth today is to provide Him with human vehicles to that end. Hands and feet and lips; hearts to love with and eyes to see with. That is our part, and it is in the infinite, unspeakable mercy of God that even this privilege may be ours. But what a wonderful thing to consent to this fact and to know that Jesus Christ lives His life through you.

What are the limits? What are the possibilities? This is the place where you quit begging and start praising God. You need not come, cap in hand, asking God for this and asking God for that. You only have to know that at any given moment Jesus Christ has the right of way in your life and you're in the place where God wants you. You don't have to beg for blessing. You thank Him in anticipation. It is inevitable.

Major Ian Thomas

2010-09-12T04:08:00.000-07:00

"In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

John 14:20

The spiritual history of every Christian could be written in two phrases, "you in me" and "I in you."

In God's reckoning Christ and the Christian become one in such a way that Christ is both in the heavenlies and upon earth and the Christian is both on earth and in the heavenlies. Christ in the heavenlies is the invisible part of the Christian. The Christian on earth is the visible part of Christ. This is a staggering thought. Its plain import is that you and I are to bring Christ down from heaven to earth that men may see who He is and what He can do in a human life. It is to have Christ's life lived out in us in such fullness that by seeing Him in us, people are drawn to Him in faith and love.

Ruth Paxson

2010-09-05T04:32:00.000-07:00

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:16

Faith doesn't show what a Christian you are, but shows what a God you have. The more we get from God, the bigger beggars we are, and the grander Father He is. That is, He puts us in a position where we must take a great deal from His resources and He is disappointed when we fail to do so.

A.B. Simpson

2010-08-29T04:36:00.000-07:00

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

John 3:16

Your thoughts of God are too human.

Martin Luther

2010-08-22T03:39:00.000-07:00

"In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Luke 15:10

We are left here to display Christ, if we are not doing this, we are of no use to the world.

Edward Dennett

2010-08-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

Jesus looked at him and loved him . . .

Mark 10:21

Napoleon had a number of picked soldiers whom he called "the Old Guard." He knew he could trust them through thick and thin, and in his many anxious moments Napoleon was comforted when he turned to his old guard. They stood by him, loyal to the core.

But one day it was whispered to Napoleon that there was a rebellion in the old guard. What whould he do? He summoned the old guard to the Palace Court. They waited outside in the courtyard, while alone in the Throne room on a platform slightly elevated, and in the Emperor's chair, sat Napoleon. The old guard wondered what would happen. Would the great chief come out and scold and threaten them? Would they be marched off to prison and to be punished? What was the chief going to do?

A messenger came out and summoned the old guard one by one into the presence of Napoleon. The first man came in at the far door, and the door was closed, and he was alone with the Emperor.

He walked right up to the throne until he stood face to face with Napoleon, and not a word was spoken. Napoleon looked into his eyes, and the soldier looked into the eyes of his chief. Then Napoleon stretched out his hand, and they gripped hands, and the old guard passed out. And the next man came in, and never a word was spoken. He walked up to the throne, he stood, he looked, the handclasp, and he went out. The next man came, the same look, the same hand, and the next, one by one - until the entire old guard had thus passed before Napoleon. And when all had thus passed, the rebellion was over forever.

My dear friend, would you come into the Presence of our Lord? Would you look into His face, would you stretch out the hand of faith, and put it into His Hand, the Hand that was pierced for you? Would you?

I tell you, your rebellion will go, if you will come like that. Just the look, just the outstretched hand, and then the clasp from His blessed Hand, and you are His!

Lindsay Glegg

2010-08-08T03:23:00.000-07:00

And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Hebrews 12:13

Ah! Give me Lord, the single eye,
Which aims at noght but Thee;
I fain would live, and yet not I -
But Jesus live in me

Augustus Toplady

2010-08-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 1

Happy is he who has learned to look beyond the actions of men to the power that controls them all, and to receive all - favor or persecution, aid or hindrance - from the Lord.

That soul has acquired the secret of perfect peace amid the confusion and turmoil of the world, as well as in the presence of Satan's power.

Edward Dennett

2010-07-25T04:51:00.000-07:00

He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

Isaiah 25:8-9

God, in His infinite grace, always takes the initiative in bringing us into a fuller experience of our inheritance in Christ. So the Lord Jesus stands outside the door of every unyielded room in your life seeking entrance. If He enters, the door must be opened from the inside.

Ruth Paxson

2010-07-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Romans 13:12-14

In the early morning, as soon as you awake, remember that you are in the very presence of God, who has been watching beside you through the long dark hours; look up to His face, and thank Him.

Consecrate to Him those first few moments before you leave your bed. Look towards the coming day, through the golden haze of light that streams from the angel of His presence.

You cannot forecast very largely what your difficulties are likely to be, the quarters from which you may be attacked, the burdens that may need carrying. Take care not to view any of these apart from God. Be sure that He will be between you and them, as the ship is between the traveler and the ocean, be it fair or stormy.

As you dress yourself for the day, remember that God supplies you with vesture clean and white, with the meekness and gentleness of Chirst, with the garments of salvation, the robes of righteousness, and the jewels of Christian virtue.

Do not look at these things apart from Him; but remember that they are attributes and graces of His own nature with which to array yourself. And above all put on the armor of light; remebering that God is light.

You are to put on Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh, and you are to descend from your room into the arena of daily battle as one who is endued with the beauty of His character. This concentration of thought upon God, during the act of dressing, will prepare the soul for those acts of adoration, thanksgiving, and intercession, which arise to God as the fragrant incense of the Temple.

F.B. Meyer

2010-07-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

And He was saying to them, "A lamp is not brought to be under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

Mark 4:21-23

Such a soul (one who has forgotten itself in God) is not blinded to its own faults or indifferent to its own errors; it is more conscious of them than ever, and increased light shows them in plainer form, but this self-knowledge comes from God, and therefore it is not restless or uneasy.

Francois Fenelon

2010-07-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

Matthew 7:9-11

Let us get it crystal clear in our hearts and mind that the only Person who ever lived the Christian life was Jesus Christ, and the only Person that God ever intended to live the Christian life was Jesus Christ. The only part that you and I play on earth today is to provide Him with human vehicles to that end. Hands and feet and lips; heart to love with and eyes to see with. That is our part, and it is in the infinite, unspeakable mercy of God that even this privilege may be ours. But what a wonderful thing to consent to this fact and to know that Jesus Christ lives His life through you.

What are the limits? What are the possibilities? This is the place where you quit begging and start praising God. You need not come, cap in hand, asking God for this and asking God for that. You only have to know that at any given moment Jesus Christ has the right of way in your life and you're in the place where God wants you. You don't have to beg for blessing. You thank Him in anticipation. It is inevitable.

Major Ian Thomas

2010-06-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

"In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

John 14:20

Christ has taken our nature into Heaven to represent us; and has left us on earth with His nature, to represent Him.

John Newton

2010-06-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

Revelation 3:15-22

The fishes of the sea live in salt water, yet when we eat boiled fish there is no salt taste in the water in which they have been boiled. They lived in an atmosphere impregnated with salt, yet they have kept free from its flavor. So do true Christians live in the world, without taking it into their hearts.

Sadu Sundar Singh

2010-06-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You

Job 42:5

A Man who would know God must give time to Him.

A.W. Tozer

2010-06-06T04:48:00.000-07:00

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

1Peter 1:6-9

Faith is to believe on the Word of God what we do not see, and its reward is to see and enjoy what we believe.

Augustine

2010-05-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

Only let us seek to aim after this: that we see Christ in each other, and not the old nature; the life of the risen Jesus in each other. If we seek to discern Christ in each oher, how we shall be drawn to each other!

George Mueller

2010-05-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:2

Here lies the precious secret of holy living. We are dead to sin; alive to God. The reign of sin is over. What has sin to do with a dead man? Nothing. Well, then, the believer has died with Christ; he was buried with Christ; he is risen with Christ, to walk in newness of life. He lives under the precious reign of grace, and he has his fruit unto holiness.

The man who draws a plea from the abundance of divine grace to live in sin, denies the very foundation of Christianity. "How shall we that have died to sin, live any longer therein?" Impossible. It would be a denial of the whole Christian standing. To imagine the Christian as one who is to go on, from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting, is to degrade Christianity and falsify the whole Christian position. To say that a Christian must go on sinning because he has the flesh in him is to ingore the death of Christ in one of its grand aspects, and to give the lie to the whole of the apostle's teaching in Romans 6-8.

C.H. Mackintosh

2010-05-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

He is a great river, and if He hides His hand from giving today, tomorrow He often gives two-fold.

George V. Wigram

2010-05-09T03:12:00.000-07:00

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.

1 John 5:10a

Every year I might almost say every day that I live, I seem to see more clearly how all the rest and gladness and power of our Christian life hinges on one thing - and this is taking God at His word, believing that He really means exactly what He says, and accepting the very words in which He reveals His goodness and grace, without substituting others or altering the precise modes and tenses He has seen fit to use.

Frances Havergal

2010-05-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:17

When you are physically thirsty, how do you get water into yourself? You drink. God has made the provision, but you must make the decision whether you will be Spirit-filled or not. There is a boundary line, the right of every person to choose, beyond which even God cannot go. God has set a feast before you, but He cannot compel you to eat. He has opened the door into the abundant life, but He cannot compel you to enter. He places in the bank a spiritual deposit that makes you a spiritual multimillionaire, but He cannot write your checks. God has done His part, now you must do yours. The responsibility for fullness or lack of fullness is now in your hands. God is hindered by one thing only - the room that you give Him to fill. You have a clearly defined part in becoming spiritual.

Ruth Paxson

2010-04-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

John 1:4

The secret and reality of a blissful life in God cannot be understood without receiving, living, and experiencing it. If we try to understand it only with the intellect, we will find our effort useless.

A scientist had a bird in his hand. He saw that it had life, and, wanting to find out in what part of the bird's body the life was, he began dissecting the bird. The result was that the very life of which he was in search disappeared mysteriously. Those who try to understand the inner life merely intellecually will meet with a similar failure. The life for which they are looking will vanish in the analysis.

In comparison with this big world, the human heart is only a small thing. Though the world is so large, it is utterly unable to satisfy this tiny heart. Our ever growing soul and its capacities can be satisfied only in the infinite God. As water is restless until it reaches its level, so the soul has no peace until it rests in God.

Sadu Sundar Singh

2010-04-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 6:30-35

We grow by what we feed on.

It is our privilege to feed on Christ day by day and grow in Him while He expands in and fills us with Himself.

We are to feed on Him by more and more appropriating Him to ourselves, appropriating Him as our perfect sacrifice and resting in the love and security of it; we are to appropriate Him as our living Head, loving us and living for us; and throwing ourselves more and more open to the penetration of His will above our will, allow Him to fill us with His own joy.

Let a Christian so appropriate the Lord Jesus Christ day by day, He will find His soul fed and filled with Christ as the living bread and living each day more and more in the consciousness that it is the living Christ that liveth in Him.

I.M. Haldeman

2010-04-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:13b-14

Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.

Jonathan Edwards

2010-04-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

If there be a growing up into the measure of the stature of Christ, there must be a conscious refusal of that which would tend to revive or invigorate the old nature.

The saint is not only a new creature to grow into the likeness of the Lord Jesus, but he has to watch and beware lest the things he has to do with should in any way minister to another will in him, which would divert him from God to himself. Self is the circle and center of man's mind in this fallen state; but when Christ is formed in the soul, God is the center and source of everything.

J. B. Stoney

2010-03-28T03:50:00.000-07:00

Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 150

When I was staying in a hotel in Norway, a little girl was among the families staying as guests. She was obviously only a beginner in playing the piano. But she insisted upon practicing in the drawing room whenever she chose. She played with one finger and one note, usually discordant. Everyone bolted for open air whenever they saw her coming.

It happened that one of the finest musicians in Norway was also a guest. Instead of vanishing with the others, he took a stool and sat beside the child. For every note she struck, he struck the most exquisite chord of music. When the child made a more terrible mistake than usual, he improvised a still finer outburst of music. After 20 minutes, he took the child by the hand and led her around the company introducing her as "the young lady to whom you are indebted for the music this afternoon." The child knew well enough that she had not done it, but everyone paid their compliments.

The truth this story illustrates has deeply touched my heart through the years. I have been as that child at the piano of God's truth. I have tried my level best to make music with my one finger. Again and again I have come away feeling that I am a terrible failure and play nothing but discord. But, oh, I have also found the Holy Spirit sitting by my side. For every note of discord I have made, He has struck a nobler note. Whatever you try to do for the Lord, small or great, and feel you are only making mistakes and failures and false notes, believe that the blessed Holy Spirit is by your side turning your discords into the Hallelujah Chrous!

F.B. Meyer

2010-03-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

. . . being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

Michelangelo lingered before a rough block of marble so long that his companion protested. In reply, Michelangelo said with enthusiasm, "There's an angel in that block and I'm going to liberate him!" Oh, what unbounding love would manifest itself in us toward the most unlovable - the most vile - if only we saw what they might become, and in our enthusiasm for souls we cried out, "There's the image of Christ - marred, scarred, nearly obliterated - in that dear fellow, and I'm going to make that man conscious of it."

An Unknown Christian

2010-03-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude 1:21

The fellowship of God is delightful beyond all telling. He communes with His redeemed ones in an easy, uninhibited fellowship that is restful and healing to the soul. He is not sensitive nor selfish nor tempermental. What He is today we shall find Him tomorrow and the next day and the next year. He is not hard to please, thought He may be hard to satisfy. He expects of us only what He has Himself first supplied. He is quick to mark every simple effort to please Him and just as quick to overlook imperfections when He knows we meant to do His will. He loves us for ourselves and values our love more than galaxies of new created worlds.

A. W. Tozer

2010-03-07T03:43:00.000-08:00

Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ's, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ's, even so we are Christ's.

2 Corinthians 10:7

If Christians are commonplace in our day, may it not be because the gospel they believe is commonplace! Divine faith is faith in the divine. The difference is not in the faith, but in the object of it. If we have really believed the Gospel of God, we have each one of us received for himself a revelation from on high, a revelation to which flesh and blood could never reach. Let us remember this.

Sir Robert Anderson

2010-02-28T03:44:00.000-08:00

Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

John 20:28

The object of Christ's love is to take us into the enjoyment of all that He enjoys Himself.

John Darby

2010-02-21T03:18:00.000-08:00

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

To be "in Christ" is to be what Christ is. Christ, the Head of the body, and the Christian who is a member of that body have one life.

The blood of the human body is its life. The blood which is now in my head will soon be in my arm. It is the same blood. So the life that is in Christ in the heavenlies is the same life that is in the Christian on earth . . .

We are so enfolded by the Lord Jesus that God cannot see Christ today without seeing us. This moment as God looks at His Son He sees you and me. And what His Son is He sees you and me to be.

To be "in Christ" is to share what Christ has. All that Christ possesses, we possess. Every spiritual blessing in Him - joy, peace, victory, power, holiness - is ours here and now. If we are a child of God, then we are His heir and a joint-heir with Chirst, so that all the Father has given to His Son, the Son shares with us.

Ruth Paxson

2010-02-14T02:10:00.000-08:00

. . . and your strength will equal your days.

Deuteronomy 33:25a

It is a mistake to suppose that we can be endowed, so to speak, with spiritual power. God never gives a fund of strength to any of His servants on which they can draw from time to time until the whole is used. The power is always in Himself, and not in them, and only supplied moment by moment to those who are walking with and in dependence upon Him.

Edward Dennett

2010-02-07T04:12:00.000-08:00

"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom Come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kindgom and power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13

(The wise man) can truly pray what we call the Lord's prayer and will pray for thine is the kingdom, thine is the power, thine is the glory. The sinner when he prays, mine is the kingdom, mine is the power, mine is the glory. Now the man out of true humility sees himself as a creature and it all belongs to God and he doesn't have to attain or struggle for it, because that's the way things are. Anything apart from that is an illusion.

Malcolm Smith

2010-01-31T03:48:00.000-08:00

With God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26

The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the believer is subjected to some fiery trial.

If the Father would make manifest the fact that "He giveth sons in the night," He must first make it night.

W. Trotter

2010-01-24T03:29:00.000-08:00

Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."

Acts 8:26-29

If we knew the heart of our Father we would never question any of His dealings with us, nor should we ever desire His hand lifted off us till we had learnt all He would teach us.

Edward Dennett

2010-01-17T03:26:00.000-08:00

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Isaiah 55:1

A sage in India was asked by a young man how he could find God. For some time the sage gave no answer, but one evening he asked the youth to come and bathe with him in the river. While there he gripped him suddenly and held his head under the water until he was nearly drowned. When he released him the sage asked him: "What did you want most when you were under the water?" "A breath of air," he replied. To which the sage answered, "When you want God as you wanted the breath of air, you will find Him."

G. Gardiner

2010-01-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for amI in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about asit is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Genesis 50:19-21

A man had a beautiful estate with magnificent trees on it. But he had a bitter enemy, who said, "I will cut down one of his trees; that will hurt him."

In the dark of the night the enemy slipped over the fence and went to the most beautiful of the trees, and with saws and axes he began to work. In the first light of morning he saw in the distance two men coming over the hill on horseback, and recognized one of them as the owner of the estate.

Hurriedly he pushed the wedges out and let the tree fall; but one of the branches caught him and pinned him to the ground injuring him so badly that he died. Before he died, he screeched out, "Well, I have cut down your beautiful tree," and the estate owner looked at him with pity and said, "This is the architect I have brought with me. We had planned to build a house, and it was necessary to cut down one tree to make room for the house; and it is the one you have been working on all night."

Do not forget that anything the devil is working at, he is but cutting down a tree God had planned to cut down; he never did anything outside the overall plan of God, for God is omnipotent and omniscient and victorious.

Donald Grey Barnhouse

2010-01-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

2 Corinthians 5:15

Christ is not valued at all unless He be valued above all.

Augustine

2009-12-13T03:57:00.000-08:00

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations - "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using - according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

Col 2:20-22

We still live in bodies with limitations and all of us are subject to the circumstances of life. Neither should we mistake worn nerves, physical weakness or depression for unspirituality. Often we need sleep more then prayer and physical recreation more than heart searching.

Lewis Sperry Chafer

2009-12-06T03:14:00.000-08:00

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

You are one of God's rough diamonds, and He is going to have to cut you so that you may really shine for Him. It takes a diamond to cut a diamond. You are to be ground and cut, and hurt by other diamonds, by other Christians. But the more cutting and the more perfecting, the more you are going to shine for your Lord.

G. Marshall

2009-11-29T04:10:00.000-08:00

In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

Philippians 4:6

One reason why we do not have more answers to our prayers is that we are not thankful enough. The divine injunction is, "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Someone has well said that there are three things in that verse - careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything.

Faith says, "Amen" to everything that God says. Faith takes God without any ifs. If God says it is, faith answers, "Amen, I believe it."

D.L. Moody

2009-11-22T02:50:00.000-08:00

For he will be like a refiner's fire . . .

Malachi 3:2b

How does the Holy Spirit purify? He purifies by separation. That is how the refiner purifes his metal. In Malachi 3, the refiner is sitting before the crucible in which is the precious silver.

How does the refiner know that his metal is ready for him to use? Well, he sits there; he tempers the fire and then as the hard silver is made liquid and the fire operates, and the dross gradually comes to the surface, he keeps on separating the dross from the silver; skims the surface as the dross is forced out of the metal through the action of the fire. He skims the surface, removes the dross, and when ultimately he sees his face reflected in the molten metal, he knows that it is ready.

The Holy Spirit sits alongside the crucible of your life and mine, and as the fire, He keeps separating the dross from the metal, and He will keep on with the holy work until He can see the face of the Lord He loves to magnify and glorify. Fire purifies.

Take the illustration of the great plague in London. In 1665 they walked through the streets and cried, "Bring out your dead; bring out your dead."

And through the plague multitudes died. The plague of 1665 was followed by the great fire of 1666, and as the result of that great fire, something happened. The whole city was purged of the dread disease. But something else happened. The fire not only destroyed germs bringing death to myriads, but it penetrated the soil. It warmed the soil and after a while, unknown flowers sprang up from long, deeply buried seeds. The warming of the soil made possible the wonderful fertility of the seeds. That is the great work of the Holy Ghost.

There are some who have within them the long-buried seeds of Divine truth, and then the Holy Ghost operates, and as the Spirit of Fire He destroys the pague of sin. The He penetrates and warms the soil causing the life to bear fruit to the glory of God.

Herbert Lockyer

2009-11-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Prov 23:7

When knowledge enters the head, it exalts me. When knowledge enters the heart, it humbles me.

Edward Dennett

2009-11-08T03:23:00.000-08:00

"My son," the father said, "you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

Luke 15:31-32

There is a story about a man who dreamed that he went to a great palace, and was joyfully greeted at the door; then he went in, and at each successive room he entered, he was, each time, even more joyfully received. At last he entered into the presence of a great monarch and was there received with great acclamation. It is more than with the believer in Christ!

The prodigal son entering the Father's house demonstrates the nature of our salvation. It is not simply for my benefit that I am there, but God has a delight in having me there . . . Love delights to have me in its company.

If a Christian's need was the measure of Chrtist's work, human joys would be enough - but when divine love is the measure - the Father's house and the joys therein are the only thing that will satisfy.

It is the Father's good pleasure that His house should be filled, therfore, "We had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. "That is why the reception of the believer in Christ is so satisfying and completely full of joy. Every believer now has a home there. We are dwelling on the joyful gain which is ours at the finish - what we are ultimately saved to.

J. B. Stoney

2009-11-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

Remember Lot's wife. Whosever shall seek to save his life shall lose it.

Luke 17:32

The most miserable person on the face of the earth is the Christian who is trying to enjoy both worlds.

Edward Dennett

2009-10-25T04:44:00.000-07:00

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

John 1:32-34

You remember in the days of Noah, when the flood was upon the earth, Noah sent out a dove in order to see what was the state of matters, and in a short time the dove came back, for she found no resting-place. He sent her out seven days after, and again she came back, but this time with an olive leaf in her mouth. When she was sent forth the third time, she did not return, she had a place to rest.

When the Holy Spirit fell upon the blessed Lord Jesus Christ in the form of a dove, what had happened? For over four thousand years the Holy Spirit had been searching in vain over this earth to find a holy, sinless, spotless man on whom to come and abide. At length here was the One upon whom He could rest. He, so to speak, like the dove, had not found any place whereon to rest. And why did not Noah's dove rest? Were there not plenty of bodies upon which it might alight?

Yes, the water was, so to speak, alive with carrion; corpses floated upon the water everywhere, but these afforded no resting-place. And the Holy Spirit had brooded over the world all these years, and had seen but moral carrion-man, a wretched, ruined, godless, sinful creature in himself. True He had come upon men like Balaam or Saul, but He left them. He had come upon men like David and Isaiah, but He left them. But there was a holy, spotless man, and He came and abode upon Him.

Because Jesus was perfect, sinless, and holy, the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in Him. He was in His moral perfection the delight of the Father, the Lamb of God, the Son of God; and, more than that, He who received the Holy Spirit would baptize with the Holy Spirit. That is, He takes your sins away and gives you the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful thing! The One who can take away the sins of men can also give them the Holy Spirit; can give them the needed power for the enjoyment of His life dwelling in their souls.

W.T.P. Wolston

2009-10-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! "FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?" "OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?" For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary lists 550,000 words. And it is a solemn and beautiful thought that in our worship of God there sometimes rush up from the depths of our souls feelings that all this wealth of words is not sufficient to express. To be articulate at certain times we are compelled to fall back upon "Oh!" or "O!" - a primative exclamatory sound that is hardly a word at all and that scarcely admits of a definition.

Vocabularies are formed by many minds over long periods and are capable of expressing whatever the mind is capable of entertaining. But when the heart, on its knees, moves into the awsome Presence and hears with fear and wonder things not lawful to utter, then the mind falls flat, and words, previously its faithful servants, become weak and totally incapable of telling what the heart hears and sees. In that awful moment the worshipper can only cry "Oh!" And that simple exclamation becomes more eloquent than learned speech and, I have no doubt, is dearer to God than any oratory.

A.W.Tozer

2009-10-11T03:50:00.000-07:00

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

James 4:13-14

Each morning remember that you may not live until evening; and in the evening, do not presume to live another day. Be ready at all times to meet the Lord, and so live that death may never find you unprepared. Many die suddenly and unexpectedly; "for at an hour that we do not know the Son of Man will come."When your last hour strikes, you will begin to think very differently of your past life, and grieve deeply that you have been so careless and remiss.

Happy and wise is the Christian who lives his life as he wishes to be found at his death. For these things will afford us sure hope of a happy death: godly contempt of worldliness; a fervent hunger for holiness; love of discipline; repentance; ready obedience; self-denial; the bearing of every trial for the love of Christ . . . do not delay the salvation of your soul to some future date, for men will forget you sooner than you think. Now is the time to make provision for eternity . . . The present time is most precious; now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.

It is sad that you do not employ your time better, when you may win eternal life thereafter. The time will come when you will long for one day or one hour in which to amend; and who knows whether it will be granted.

Dear soul, from what peril and fear you could free yourself, if you lived in holy fear, mindful of your death.

Apply yourself so to live now, that at the hour of death, you may be glad and unafraid. Learn now to die to the world, that you may begin to live with Christ. Learn now to despise all earthly things, that you may go freely to Christ.

Thomas A Kempis

2009-10-04T03:34:00.000-07:00

And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:18-19

There are two stages in the Christian life. The one in which, after conversion, a believer seeks to work what God would have him do. The second, in which, after many a painful failue, he ceases from his works, and entes the rest of God, there to find the power for work in allowing the Father to work in him.

It is this rest from their own work which many Christians cannot understand. They think of it as a state of passive and selfish enjoyment, of still contemplation which leads to the neglect of the duties of life, and unfits for that watchfulness and warfare to which Scripture calls. What an entire misunderstanding of God's call to rest!

Truly to rest in God is to yield oneself up to the highest activity. We work, because He worketh in us both to will and to do (Phil 2:13). Entering into the rest of God is the ceasing from self-effort, and the yielding of oneself in the full surrender of faith in God's working.

Andrew Murray

2009-09-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Just as an infant's hand can grasp the acorn which holds the giant oak within it, so the youngest child who can lisp "the Nicodemus sermon" of John 3:16 may with truth be said to know the gospel. And yet in every word of it there is a depth and mystery of meaning which God alone can fathom.

Tell me what it means to perish, and enable me to grasp the thought of a life that is eternal. Measure for me the abyss of man's wickedness and guilt during all the ages of his black and hateful history, that I may realize in some degree what that world is which God has loved. Then, pausing for a moment in wonder at the thought that such a world could be loved at all, hasten on to speak of love that gave the Son. And when you have enabled me to know this love, which cannot be known, for it passes knowledge, press on still and tell me of the sacrifice by which it has measured and proved itself - His Son, His Only-begotten Son.

Make me to know, in the fullness of knowledge, Him who declared that the Father alone could know Him. And when you have achieved all this, I turn again to the worlds, and I crave to know Who and What God is.

I can rise to the thought of love, perhaps even to an evil world, and the conception of love giving up an only son is not beyond me; but when I come to know that it was GOD who loved, that GOD was the giver, and God's Son the gift, I stand as a wondering worshipper in the presence of the Infinite, and confess that such knowledge is too high for me.

Sir Robert Anderson

2009-09-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

It is just a matter of taking a position that is already yours. The enemy has filled the mind of many believers with the delusion that they are poor, and in their poverty they must work and grind and toil in order to buy the blessings which are already theirs in Christ. It is time to see that all you need, you have in Christ. There is no need of ours which is not fully met in Him. And you are in Him. You only need to take the position which is already yours. Abide!

D. Tryon

2009-09-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.

John 15:26

Wherever you have to go, whatever you may have to do, however isolated your life may be, the Holy Spirit is with you and in you to make you aware of the presence of Christ. Christ reveals Himself to you thus; and every time of awareness, every time of recollectedness, is the direct result of the operation of the Holy Spirit in your mind bringing you to think about, recollect and to respond to the presence of your Lord.

Whatever you have to do in the shop, or office, or factory, or home, on the street, or as you travel, as you in these varied senses and occupations recall Jesus Christ, it is the Holy Spirit who is enabling you to do it.

In the special circumstances of your life, you may be cut off from Christian fellowship. But you can face all such loneliness in the calm confidence that the Spirit of God is always within you to remind you of the presence of Christ.

Christian fellowship is a glad and happy thing, but it is not the chief thing in a Christian's life. The chief thing is to have Christ Himself. And that gracious presence is ministered to you through the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

Thus in every time of temptation or difficulty the Holy Spirit is ready to reveal Christ as the answer to all your problems and the Savior from all temptations.

J. Russel Howden