March 26, 2020 
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Psalm 73:23-26 (ESV)
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[a] of my heart and my portion forever.
March 6, 2020 1 Comment
Ephesians 5:8 (ESV)
8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
This morning i was blessed to stumble upon one of my favourite photos of my lovely Wife Sarah. I just had to add the Bible verse to this post as i think this image reflects a little of what it is expressing…Sarah really does bring sunshine, warmth and light to all who know her! ☀️
I hope this post encourages, inspires and brightens up your day…As i know it has mine. 😀
April 8, 2019 0 Comments
Do not pay too dear for a feast for worms!
(Richard Baxter, “Directions against Gluttony“)
“Dust you are, and to dust you will return!” Genesis 3:19
“Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.” Job 21:26
“When You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust!” Psalm 104:29
“All come from dust, and to dust all return!” Ecclesiastes 3:20
Remember what your body is, and what it will shortly be, and how loathsome and vile it will be in the grave. And then think how far such a body should be pampered and pleased–and at what a price. Do not pay too dear for a feast for worms! Look into the grave, and see what the end of all of all your pleasant foods and drinks is; of all your dainty and costly fare. You may see there the skulls cast up, and the ugly hole of that mouth which devoured so many sweet, delicious morsels–but there is none of the pleasure of it now left!
Oh astonishing folly! that men can so easily, so eagerly, so obstinately, waste their estates, and neglect their souls, and displease their God, and in effect even sell their hopes of Heaven–for so small and sordid a delight, as the pleasing of such a piece of flesh, which must shortly have so vile an end!
Was it worth so much care, and toil, and cost, and the casting away of your salvation–to pamper that body a little while, which must shortly be such a loathsome carcass? Methinks one sight of a skull or a grave, would make you look upon gluttony and luxury as madness.
The case will be altered with you when all your wealth and friends cannot keep your pampered carcass from corruption, nor procure your soul a comfort equal to a drop of water to cool your tongue, tormented in the flames of God’s displeasure! Then all the comfort you can procure from God and conscience will be but this sad memento, “Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony!” Luke 16:25
April 7, 2019 0 Comments
The Sympathy of Christ!
“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” Hebrews 4:15
In all our infirmities and troubles of every kind–in pain and sickness, in poverty and need, in anxiety and grief–Jesus has a sympathetic heart for us. Is not this comforting? Does it not cheer us in a time of suffering, when some kind friend comes in and sits down beside us and shows most plainly that though he is unable to help us, he does sincerely feel for us? How much more cheering it is to know that Jesus in Heaven sympathizes with us in all our troubles here below! Does not this thought, this blessed truth–take the edge off the sharpest suffering, and lift us for the time above our sorrows?
Jesus Christ Himself was afflicted when He was on earth. He is called a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. No sorrows were ever equal to His. We know that He was tired and hungry and sad. He was besides, the poorest of the poor–He had nowhere to lay His head. He led what would be called a very hard life.
Our greatest sufferings are light when compared with His. He had some afflictions which we cannot fully understand, as when He prayed in the garden, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me!” And as when He cried upon the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!”
He can sympathize with the poor–because He was poor Himself.
He can sympathize with the sad–because He was a man of sorrows.
He can sympathize with all who suffer–because His own sufferings were so many and so great.
He was tempted; He was tried; He was afflicted; He went through what we have to go through–and much more. In this very world in which we live now–He lived and suffered; and therefore He can and does sympathize with His suffering people.
“He was despised and rejected by men–a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces–He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows–yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace, was upon Him–and by His wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:3-5
April 6, 2019 0 Comments
Our clumsy hands!
“I do not practice what I want to do–but I do what I hate!” Romans 7:15
Think of the brokenness, the incompleteness, the littleness–of these lives of ours!
We get glimpses of beauty in character–which we are not able to attain!
We have spiritual longings–which seem to us too great ever to come true.
We dream of things we want to do–but when we try to work them out, our clumsy hands cannot put them into realizations!
We have glimmerings of a love that is very rich and tender, without a trace of selfishness, without envy or jealousy, without resentment–a love which does not seek its own, nor is not provoked, and bears all things. We get the vision from the life of Christ Himself. We say, “I will learn that lesson of love–I will be like that!” But we fail.
We strive to be sweet-spirited, unselfish, thoughtful, kind–but we must wet our pillow with tears at the close of our marred days, because we cannot be what we strive to be! We have glimpses of an inner peace which is very beautiful. We strive after it strive with intense effort–but do not reach it!
So it is in all our living. Life is ever something too large for us. We attain only fragments of living. Yet take heart, “The desire of the righteous shall be granted!” Proverbs 10:24
“We know that when He appears–we shall be like Him!” 1 John 3:2
April 5, 2019 0 Comments
For a rational man to be so attached to a bubble, is a most irrational thing!
(Don Fortner)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
Worldliness is an undue attachment to this world. It is living for this world–its riches, its honor, its joys and its cares. It is living by the principles of this world: greed, covetousness, deceit and lust.
Nothing is more dangerous to the souls of men–than the love of the world.
Nothing more effectually chokes out the influence of the gospel in a man’s heart–than the cares of this world.
Nothing is more difficult to avoid–than an undue attachment to this world.
Therefore, John sets these four words up as a beacon. They stand in blazing letters to warn us of great danger: “LOVE NOT THE WORLD!”
Beloved, this world and all that it offers, is no more than a bubble that soon must burst! Your money, your farms, your houses, your influence, your families–everything here is temporary. It will all vanish away!
We laugh at the small child who cries when the bubbles he is playing with burst. But, for a rational man to be so attached to a bubble, is a most irrational thing!
What fools they are who love and seek this world! I cannot warn you enough of the danger of worldliness–of loving, seeking, and living for this world!
Are you God’s child? Are you risen with Christ? Do you live in the hope of eternal glory?
Then count this world to be a dead thing.
Live no longer for this world.
Set your heart on things above.
Live above this pile of rubbish that must soon burn.
Live to do the will of God, seek the glory of Christ, further the gospel of the grace of God, and serve the people of God. Quit seeking those things for which unbelieving men live, and seek those things which are above–life, immortality, and glory.
April 2, 2019 0 Comments
Later you will understand
(Charles Naylor, “When Adversity Comes” 1944)
“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” John 13:7
A few years ago a young preacher came to me and told me his troubles. He was passing through a time of darkness that he could not understand. Several months ago he called upon me again, and in the course of our conversation he referred to the time of trouble through which he had passed. He said, “Those things that I could not understand at that time, have taught me lessons which have prepared me to help many souls as I never could have, had I not had those severe trials.”
Yes, things look different now. He can now see God’s hand in it. He can see that those difficult things were a blessing to his own soul and to the souls of others. He can see that he had been in God’s school of adversity and knew it not. He thought these things were destructive to him, but when he looked back upon them with clear vision and a knowledge of God’s purpose–he saw real blessing in them. He saw them as manifestations of the wisdom and kindness of God, and he thanked God for those things which had been bitter and hard to bear.
Are you passing through difficult things which you cannot now understand?
Does it look as if these things are ruining you?
Just trust God and be patient. Out of your night of bitterness, out of your darkness and woe–will come strength of character, a blessed realization of God’s faithfulness, and a knowledge of Him and yourself which can come to you in no other way. You will look back in time to come, and thank God for His wise care and tender love for you which brought you to these things, and realize that it was His hand leading you to better and richer things beyond.
April 1, 2019 2 Comments
My last words shall be
(William Grimshaw)
When I come to die, I shall have my greatest grief and my greatest joy.
My greatest grief–that I have done so little for Jesus.
My greatest joy–that Jesus has done so much for me!
My last words shall be: “Here goes an unprofitable servant!”
March 31, 2019 0 Comments
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!
(Octavius Winslow)
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith!”
We cannot keep our eyes too exclusively or too intently fixed on Jesus.
All salvation is in Him.
All salvation proceeds from Him.
All salvation leads to Him.
And for the assurance and comfort of our salvation, we are to repose believingly and entirely on Him.
Christ must be all!
Christ the beginning,
Christ the center,
Christ the end.
Oh sweet truth to you who are sensible of your poverty, vileness, and insufficiency, and of the ten thousand flaws and failures of which, perhaps, no one is cognizant but God and your own soul!
Oh the blessedness–to turn from self, and rest in Christ:
a full Christ,
a loving Christ,
a tender Christ,
whose heart’s love never chills,
from whose eye darts no reproof,
from whose lips breathes no sentence of condemnation!
“He whose daily life is a fixing his eyes on Jesus, has heaven on his way to heaven!” Henry Law
“And when Christ, who is your life, appears–then you also will appear with Him in glory!” Colossians 3:4
March 25, 2019 0 Comments
You must keep the circus going!
(Ernest Reisinger)
Whatever means you use to get people into the church, is precisely what you must use to keep them.
If you get them with a ‘religious circus’ then you must keep the circus going–you must keep up the entertainment.
If you get them with biblical preaching and teaching, then that will keep them and you will not need the entertainment.
“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:2-3
March 24, 2019 0 Comments
If you saw Christ standing beside you all the time
(J.R. Miller, “Intimate Letters on Personal Problems”)
Scripture says of Moses, that “he endured as seeing Him who is invisible!” Hebrews 11:27. That is, Moses always remembered that God was right beside him, his friend to help him–and this made him strong. He did not actually see God–but it was as if he saw Him. That is, he realized the divine presence in all of his life.
If you saw Christ standing beside you all the time–it would not be hard for you to keep sweet, or to keep control of your temper and speech.
Well, Christ IS beside you–just as really as He was beside Mary when she sat at His feet in Bethany, or beside Peter and the other disciples as they walked together over the hills of Judea and Galilee. What you need, is to realize this fact.
We know that Jesus is present with us all the time, at every moment, by day or by night. He is closer than any human friend can be to us. Indeed, we are to practice His presence–that is, we are to live all the time, as if we actually saw Him!
You must remember that Christ is always besides you, not only to see you–but to help you, as your truest and best Friend!
March 23, 2019 0 Comments
A hazardous game!
(Charles Spurgeon, “Flowers from a Puritan’s Garden” 1883)
“Avoid every kind of evil!” 1 Thessalonians 5:22
“If we play around the viper’s hole–it no wonder that we are bitten!”
An old proverb advises us not to play with sharp-edged tools, lest we cut our fingers.
It is a sin to trifle with sin! If we must play, we had better find harmless toys!
That evil which caused Christ a bloody death, is no fit theme for any man’s sport.
Playing with wickedness is a hazardous game! Sooner or later, we will pluck the lion of sin by the beard, and we shall be torn in pieces!
This is true of indulgence in strong drink: “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper!”
This is equally true of all other forms of evil, especially of the lusts of the flesh. Lewd words, soon lead to foul deeds. Yet such is the folly of men, that they run dreadful risks in sheer wantonness, as though vipers and cobras were fine playmates, and devils were merry-makers!
“Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Do not let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” Psalm 19:13
March 21, 2019 0 Comments
A diligent pupil in the College of Contentment
“I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” Philippians 4:11
These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. Grumbling, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man–as weeds are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and weeds; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth. Just so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education.
“Ill weeds grow quickly.” But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener’s care.
Now, contentment is one of the flowers of Heaven, and if we would have it–then it must be cultivated, as it will not grow in us by nature. It is the new nature alone which can produce contentment–and even then we must be especially careful and watchful, that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us.
Paul says, “I have learned… to be content;” as much as to say, that he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mastery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave–a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome.
We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him–if we too might by any means attain unto his high degree of contentment. Do not indulge the notion that you can learn contentment without discipline. It is not an ability that may be exercised naturally–but a grace to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it be–and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Contentment.
March 20, 2019 0 Comments
The blessed man!
(James Smith, “Comfort for Christians!”)
“Blessed is the man You chasten, O Lord–the man You teach from Your law!” Psalm 94:12
The chastenings of the Lord often appear severe–but they are merciful. They . . .
correct our follies,
subdue our proud wills, and
soften and humble our hard hearts before Him.
When God chastens–He teaches. The lessons are found in His Word–but we never learn many of them, until we go through the furnace of affliction! We often learn more truth from one short, sharp affliction–than we do from many books and sermons!
In affliction, God teaches us . . .
our own emptiness and vanity,
our dependence on Himself, and
the insufficiency of all our earthly things!
In affliction, God . . .
endears the Lord Jesus and His great salvation to us;
shows us the value of the provision of grace;
makes our consciences tender and honest;
qualifies us for usefulness on earth; and
fits us for the enjoyment of Himself in Heaven.
We need chastening. If we do not receive it–we become . . .
carnal and worldly,
light and trifling,
unsavory and useless in both the world and the church!
It is a blessed thing to be chastened of the Lord, especially when the rod teaches us such important and invaluable lessons! Chastened Christians are generally the most useful and attractive Christians.
“Heed the rod–and the One who appointed it!” Micah 6:9
Chastened Christian! Seek grace . . .
to bear the rod,
to bless the rod, and
to kiss the hand that holds the rod!
“Blessed is the man whom God corrects–so do not despise the chastening of the Almighty!” Job 5:17
March 19, 2019 2 Comments
People never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it
(J.C. Ryle, “Thoughts For Young Men“)
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed!” John 3:19-20
Be very sure of this–people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.
They understand it only too well! They understand that it condemns their own behavior. They understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment! They try to believe it is false and useless–because they don’t like to believe it is true.
An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this holy book.
Men question the truth of Christianity–because they hate the practice of it!
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
April 3, 2017 0 Comments
Suck the honey out of it!
Spurgeon’s sermon, “The Minstrel”
It is wonderful the effect of a single verse of Scripture when the Spirit of God applies it to the soul.
What power would come upon the soul, if we would grasp a single line of Scripture and suck the honey out of it till our soul is filled with sweetness.
April 2, 2017 0 Comments
Bible reading…
by Thomas Brooks–
“Remember that it is not hasty reading, but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul.
It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet.
It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.”
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