“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:28
All things? Yes! Everything that happens to the Christian is directed and overruled by God’s special Providence for his good! The experience may be very bitter, it may lay him very low and try him to the core; it may keep him in the dust for a long time. But it will do him good, not only in the end, but while it lasts.
Believer, your present trial is for your good. Nothing could be better for you! You may not see it now; you may even feel as if you never could think so, but the time is coming when you will bless God for it.
You love God–and God loves you with an infinite and eternal love! You came to the cross as a poor sinner, and you looked to the Lord Jesus to be your perfect Savior. This proves that you have been called according to God’s purpose. You are one of God’s beloved ones, and as such, you may have the assurance that all things . . . light and darkness, health and sickness, hatred and love, prosperity and adversity, life and death, will work together for your good!
Dark clouds bring rich blessings, and sharp winters introduce fruitful springs. Even so, sore troubles often precede the sweetestconsolations. Your present affliction, whether it is . . . sickness of body, trouble of mind, bereavements, losses, crosses, or whatever else –is working for your good. It will work for good in the future, and it is working for good now. While your heart is bleeding, and you are tempted to think that all is against you–all is working together for your good!
Dear Lord, I do not see how my affliction can be good for me. But help me, Lord, to accept it as such by faith, so that I may receive what You have for me through it.
“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope!” Romans 5:3-4
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you!” Isaiah 43:5
The presence of a friend in trouble is cheering and consoling. But it is too often the case that our friends, like the friends of Job, prove to be miserable comforters. They do not enter into our troubles–or they can not help us. The advice they give at times–only aggravates our woe, and adds to our distress.
But, believer, your God says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you!” What a thought is this! God, the great, the glorious, the omnipotent Jehovah–is with me! With me to help me, with me to comfort me, with me to sanctify me, with me to save me, with me as a kind benignant Father, with me in every place, in every trouble, in every conflict, with me through all my journey and for evermore, with me on the bed of sickness, with me to hold communion with me, with me to listen to my sighs, with me to number my tears, and with me to secure me from all injury!
Appearances may be very dark; the night may seem very long; and your pains, weakness, and fears may be many and great. Still, if the Lord is with you, you may sing, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty–yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!” Isaiah 43:1-3
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
Most of us arebad-tempered in various degrees. The dictionary has been well-near exhausted of adjectives, in giving the different shades of bad-temper: aggressive, angry, bickering, bitter, capricious, choleric, contentious, crotchety, despotic, domineering, easily offended, gloomy, grumpy, hasty, huffy, irritable, morose, obstinate, reproachful, peevish, sulky, surly, vindictive–these are some of the qualifying words!
We do not like to believe that the case is quite so serious, that many of us are unamiable in some offensive degree. It is easier to confess our neighbor’s faults and infirmities, than our own! So, therefore, quietly taking refuge for ourselves among the few good-tempered people–we are willing to admit that a great many of the people we know, have at times rather ungentle tempers. They are easily provoked; they fly into a passion on very slight occasion; they are haughty, domineering, peevish, fretful or vindictive!
What is even worse, most of them appear to make no effort to grow out of their infirmities of disposition! The sour fruit does not come to mellow ripeness in the passing years; the roughness is not polished off the diamond to reveal its lustrous hidden beauty. The same petulance, pride, vanity, selfishness and other disagreeable qualities are found in the life, year after year!
Where there is a struggle to overcome one’s faults and grow out of them, and where the progress toward better and more beautiful spiritual character is perceptible, though ever so slow–we should have sympathy. But where one appears unconscious of one’s blemishes, and manifests no desire to conquer one’s faults–there is little ground for encouragement!
Man-like it is–to fall into sin. Fiend-like it is–to dwell therein. Saint-like it is–for sin to grieve. God-like it is–for sin to leave.
Bad temper is such a disfigurement of character, and, besides, works such harm to one’s self and to one’s neighbors, that no one should spare any pains or cost to have it cured!
The ideal Christian life, is one of unbroken kindliness. It is dominated by love, the love whose portrait is drawn for us in the immortal thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” That is the picture of the ideal Christian life!
We have but to turn to the gospel pages, to find the story of a life in which all this was realized. Jesusnever lost his temper. He lived among people who tried Him at every point–some by their dullness, others by their bitter enmity and persecution–but He never failed in sweetness of disposition, in patience, in self-denying love. Like the flowers which give out their perfume only when crushed; like the odoriferous wood which bathes the axe which hews it with fragrance; the life of Christ yielded only the tenderer, sweeter love–to the rough impact of men’s harshness and wrong. That is the pattern on which we should strive to fashion our life and our character! Every outbreak of violent temper, every shade of ugliness in disposition–mars the radiant loveliness of the ‘picture’ we are seeking to have fashioned in our souls!
Bad-tempered people are continually hurting others, ofttimes their best and truest friends.
Some people are sulky, and one person’s sulkiness casts a chilling shadow over a whole household!
Others are so sensitive, ever watching for slights and offended by the merest trifles–that even their nearest friends have no freedom of fellowship with them!
Others are despotic, and will brook no kindly suggestion, nor listen to any expression of opinion!
Others are so quarrelsomethat even the meekest and gentlest person cannot live peaceably with them!
It would be easy to extend this portrayal of the evils of bad temper, but it will be more profitable to inquire HOW a bad-tempered person may become good-tempered. There is no doubt that this happy change is possible in any case. There is no temper so obdurately bad, that it cannot be trained into sweetness. The grace of God can take the most unlovely life, and transform it into the image of Christ!
“The love of Christ which surpasses knowledge!” Ephesians 3:19
No love stoops like Christ’s love. It abandoned place and prospects and power–to save me! It traveled from the heights of Heaven, to the depths of sinful earth. God, pure and holy, chose voluntarily to make His home with me a sinner!
The sole qualification I need to commend myself to Him is not my conviction of worth, but my conviction of worthlessness–my knowledge that I am devoid of goodness and holiness! Then, when I confess myself penniless, He will invest me with His treasures. He banishes no self-destroyed and forlorn and penitent man outside the pale of His grace.
His love stoops!
No love suffers like Christ’s love. The test of affection is its willingness to suffer sacrifice and pain for another. Never has any affection stood the test like the love of Jesus.
“It is certain,” one writes, “that not for one hour on earth, was our Lord without the anguish of His passion.” And at last He made the supreme offering of His life, for me. Such bitterness, such dereliction, such unspeakable sorrow–there were in my Savior’s death. For me He bore the hiding of His Father’s face on Calvary. It is an unfathomable pre-eminence of grief. It is a horror of great darkness which I may not pierce.
His love suffers!
No love gives like Christ’s love. Love is always giving. But when was there human love with such wealth to bestow, and such willingness to communicate it–as the love of Christ? In simple fact, He imparts nothing less than Himself to me! The most unholy, the most tempted, the most despairing–cannot desire anything more sufficient.
His love gives!
And no love lasts like Christ’s love. The truest and tenderest earthly love says farewell to its beloved in death. And too often, even on this side of the grave, doubts insinuate themselves, and suspicions arise, and covenants are snapped and broken. It is not so with the love of Christ. Neither things present nor things to come, the demands of today and the contingencies of tomorrow–chill that great heart of love! Christ’s love is like Himself–eternal and unchangeable.
His love lasts!
Does not His wondrous love deserve my whole soul and body–all that I have, and all that I am? Nothing is stranger, and nothing more sad, than that, bathed in Christ’s love–I should be so indifferent, so forgetful, so cold!
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich!” 2 Corinthians 8:9
(You will find it most helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power!” Colossians 2:9-10
One of the great tenets of Scripture, is the claim thatJesus Christ is completely sufficient for all matters of life and godliness! 2 Peter 1:3-4
He is sufficient for: Creation (Colossians 1:16-17) Salvation (Hebrews 10:10-12) Sanctification (Ephesians 5:26-27) and Glorification (Romans 8:30).
So pure is He, that there is no blemish, stain, spot of sin, defilement, deception, corruption, error, or imperfection in Him! (1 Peter 1:18-20)
So complete is He, that . . . there is no other God besides Him (Isaiah 45:5) He is the only begotten Son (John 1:14, John 1:18) all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him (Colossians 2:3) the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him (Colossians 2:9) He is heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2) He created all things–and all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him (Colossians 1:16) He upholds all things by the word of His power (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3) He is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15) He is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3).
He has no beginning and no end (Revelation 1:17-18) He is the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29) He is our peace (Ephesians 2:14) He is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1) He is our life (Colossians 3:4) He is the living and true Way (John 14:6) He is the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16) He is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11) He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2) He is Captain of our Salvation (Hebrews 2:10) He is the Elect One (Isaiah 42:1) He is the Apostle and High-Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1) He is the Righteous Servant (Isaiah 53:11) He is the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:17) He is the Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14) He is the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 54:5) He is the God of the whole earth (Isaiah 54:5) He is the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3) He is the Light of the world (John 9:5) He is the Son of Man (Matthew 20:28) He is the true Vine (John 15:5) He is the Bread of Life (John 6:48) He is the Door to Heaven (John 10:7) He is the Sovereign Lord (Philippians 2:10-13) He is Prophet, Priest and King (Hebrews 1:1-3) He is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9) He is our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6) He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) He is the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5) He is the Rock of Salvation (Psalm 62:2) He is the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13) He is the Counselor and Comforter (John 14:26) He is the Messiah (John 4:25-26) and He is the great I AM! (John 8:58)
Sin is the seed, the source, the essence of unhappiness. “There is no peace to the wicked”–nor is there any happiness for the sinner in his sins. The carnal mind may find something like pleasure in carnal things–but real, solid, lasting joy, cannot be found, never has been found by the sinner, until converted to God. Carnal pleasure is empty, fleeting, and unsatisfactory in its very nature!
The true Christian has enough to make him genuinely happy: All of his sins are forgiven and forgotten. He is adopted into God’s family. His person is justified before God. He is clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. He is a child of God. He is regenerated by the Holy Spirit. He has the Spirit of adoption in his heart. He is at peace with God, and God is at peace with him.
All the promises of God are his, which represent Jehovah as pledged to support, sustain, comfort, supply, and bless him in time and eternity!
His God is with him. His God is for him. His God will never fail him in any trial, nor leave him under any circumstances for one moment.
Such is the Christian’s blessed state, and such are his blessed privileges–though he may appear poor, afflicted, and despised among men.
In proportion . . . as sin is subdued, as sanctification is deepened, as the Savior is prized, as our talents are laid out for the Lord’s glory –are we happy. But if sin is allowed to conquer, if personal sanctification is neglected, if the intimations of the Holy Spirit are slighted–then the believer is not, and cannot be happy.
Let the Christian therefore . . . cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart, cultivate close fellowship with God, walk softly, uprightly, and daily with God. So will his peace be like a river, and his path be like the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You!” Isaiah 26:3
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
“These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you!But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face!” Psalm 50:21
The God of contemporary Christianity is only slightly superior to the pagan gods of ancient Greece and Rome, if indeed He is not actually inferior to them–in that He is weak and helpless, while they at least had some imagined power. Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry; for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is, in itself a monstrous sin; and substitutes for the true God, one made after its own likeness. Always this god will conform to the image of the one who created it–and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.
The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow, they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God, and acts as if they were true.
If we insist upon trying to imagine Him–we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts. And an idol of the mind, is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand!
Before a Christian Church goes into a decline, there must first be a corrupting of her Scriptural thoughts of God. She simply gives a wrong answer to the question, “What is God like?” and goes downhill from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is, and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind!
The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God, until it is once more worthy of Him, and of her!
I am weary of myself, ashamed of myself–and often turn with disgust from myself! And yet I find a great deal of self-love, self-esteem, and self-pity working within me! I sometimes get into such a state of confusion, into such misery and wretchedness, that I cry out, “Oh, what a wretched man I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death!” Romans 7:24
I feel that I am too carnal, too much like the generality of professors. I do not follow the Lord fully. I am not wholly set apart for God. But I am ashamed of complaining, I have done so, so often, and it has ended there. I need more life, more savor, more love in my religion; and to be more energetic and self-denying in my ministry. I need, alas, what do I not need? I am only a mere skeleton of a Christian. I can keep up the outward form pretty well, but the power–the power is what I need! I want to be like Jesus. O for a Christ-like spirit, temper, and course of conduct!
I am obliged to renounce self entirely–all that I do, all that I feel, and all that I say, and build on Jesus Christ, and on Him alone. This is very mortifying to poor, proud human nature, but so it must be. The creature must be nothing, that the Savior may be all in all!
How swift-footed is time! Soon, very soon, it will land me on the shores of eternity! Well, to die will be gain. I shall then be with Christ–with Christ forever! Then all my trials will be ended, all my sorrows will cease, and I shall sin no more! If I could but live without sin, I would not care how long I lived. Nothing grieves me like sin–and yet I sin daily. I grieve the loving heart of Jesus, and wound the tender bosom on which I lean. What a pleasant thing perfect holiness will be!
“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!” Matthew 10:34
Not peace, but a sword! Lord Jesus, this is a hard saying! Teach me to believe it, and to submit to the ordeal–sharp and piercing and painful though it may be.
Between me and my world, Christ’s sword may pierce with its remorseless edge. He separates me . . . from old sinful habits, from old sinful employments, from old sinful pleasures, from old sinful friendships.
He divides me from the society in which I was accustomed to move. “Your home is no longer there!”He says. And I go out from the familiar surroundings, into an untrodden region and realm.
Between me and my nearest and dearest, Christ’s sword may pierce pitilessly. Perhaps the loved ones of my own house will have nothing to do with my Redeemer and Lord. Perhaps they see no beauty in Him, that they should desire Him. Then, in the deepest and noblest things, they and I will stand apart–a sundering tide rolling between us. And how immeasurably sad that will be!
Between me and myself, Christ’s sword is sure to pierce with a blade that does not spare! The I, the self, which used to be so vain, so confident, so proud–must be slain outright! Its days of pride, pleasure and selfishness must end–until I can say, “It is no more I who live, but He–my Prophet, my Priest, my King–who lives in me!” What a change that is! What a martyrdom!
It is painful, this stroke of Christ’s sword. But the old confessor was right: “The nearer the sword–the nearer Heaven!” If I am victim–I am victor too. Smitten down by Jesus–I am not destroyed, but crowned!
Hi all…This is my first post from my ‘From The Archives’ series, i hope you enjoy reading some of the classics, lol?! 😀
The Finish Line…
As a blind gamer, i was excited to be recommended(by my brother) a brand new racing game called “Project Cars” for the PS4. I’m able to attempt to play a few racing games, If they include Grand Prix tracks, i can often remember each corner from my sighted gaming days, playing F1 97 etc.
When i sat down to play for 15 minutes last night, i was surprised to be taught a lesson on being over zealous, while lacking wisdom! 🙂
⇧ Screenshot of my 1980 Capri (Group 5 – Team Zakspeed) ⇧
I chose the rather extreme Capri to drive and chose a familiar track. After leaving the pits i span off on nearly every corner as my tyres were cold and not up to race temperatures. An influx of thoughts filled my mind,….
Over Zealous…
It reminded me of when i first became a Christian and first had revelation of the Truth when reading the Bible. I couldn’t believe what i was reading, and how it described me…yes me! I then did what normally happens, and become over zealous like a screaming twin turbo engine and had to tell everyone, and point out the right and wrongs with everything and everyone around me!
I was making a lot of noise and using a lot of power and energy, but was lacking something vital, i failed to slowly warm up the tyres of Godly Wisdom!
As we mature, and grow in step with the Holy Spirit, we are given all we need to finish the race. And when we get the balance right, we can stay on track until the end, and if our tyres stay hot, even the storms won’t be able to slow us down! 🙂
Making Doughnuts…
⇧ Screenshot of my 1988 Sierra RS500 Cosworth (Group A) ⇧
After selecting “Donington”, my home town track in Derby, i decided to take the Sierra Cosworth for a ride. I stopped to make some doughnuts, and thought “Here we go again, all that power and energy…and i’m just going round in circles”.
🙏 I want to thank God for not leaving us in the pits! But instead He empowers instructs and steers us towards the finish line! 😀
We represent the King. We are His chosen ambassadors, doing His business “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). Then let’s represent Him this season! People are wide-open to the gospel these days. Forget about trying to impress others by what you buy. Spend more time imparting what you already possess.
Be on the alert for symptoms of inner Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to this virus and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.
Some signs and symptoms of The Advent Virus:
A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
A loss of interest in judging other people.
A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
A loss of interest in conflict.
A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
Frequent attacks of smiling.
An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
Please send this warning out to all your friends. This virus can and has affected many systems. Some systems have been completely cleaned out because of it.
Heavenly Father, We think we are ready for Christmas …Not because we have read the pages of the Bible, but because we have read our credit card statements, And they say that we have left no stone unturned, and no gift unbought, if still unpaid for. We stand ready to stagger under the weight of Christmas, To eat and drink far too much, To party with the best of them, And to worry all the time that we’ve forgotten something. And we’ll do it all, not always because we want to, but because everyone else is doing it, and we’ll go along for the ride.
Somewhere in all of this, Father, please feel free to stop us. Any place, any time, just stop us in our tracks. Stop us, grab our attention, and then place your gift in our hands where we can see it, And in our hearts where we can feel it. The gift of knowing that, a little over two thousand years ago, you stepped into the history of this world and placed yourself in a manger in a dirty backstreet stable, And called yourself a Christ-Child. It was then that we could see you and understand you as we had never been able to do before: As Creator, as Spirit, and as a man who would walk unerringly towards a Cross.
Everything else, all the food, the fun, the partying, none of it matters, and none of it has any point at all, unless we grasp this simple, beautiful gift and press it close to our hearts and keep it there…..….. that we live with you, that we are one with you, Our Lord Immanuel.
(Thomas Moor, “Counsels and Thoughts for the Spiritual Life of Believers” 1882)
Remember that among your chief thoughts of the Lord Jesus, one must ever have a prominent place: that He is ever looking down upon you and watching you with tenderest love, and ordering all things for your good.
Sometimes it is spiritual medicine, at other times it is spiritual nourishment–but at all times it is spiritual good, and just what is best for you. He sees and knows just what is best for each day and hour. So, always when you think of Him, think of Him as thus looking down upon you and ever caring for you.
The Holy Spirit is ever leading us to think of Christ and to live for Christ and continually to look to Christ.
The natural mind makes self the center, and self the end. The spiritual mind makes Christ the center, and Christ the end. The more we seek Christ, and the less we seek self–the more we please Him.
Christ is the source and end both of grace on earth and glory in Heaven. Grace in the heart, is glory in its beginnings. Glory in Heaven, is grace in its full consummation.
Growing in grace is living more upon Christ, and living more for Christ, and growing more like Christ.
To learn of Christ and live upon Christ, is the highest experience of the soul here or hereafter!
Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.
My Thoughts 💭
Wow, what an amazing word picture! Some of these proverbs just stick in your mind and heart (especially if you’ve had a dog.) It’s just so accurate and so full of His Wisdom that you can’t help but fall on your knees and ask once again for forgiveness.
🙏 Prayer 4 2day!
Loving Saviour, i don’t deserve the smallest of your mercies, and yet you continue to love, sustain and bless me in immeasurable ways!
Your love is blind to all of my faults, and ugly sides. I pray that You would work through me to love others compassionately and patiently. Amen.
“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Philippians 3:8-9
When you come to Christ–you must leave behind you: all your own righteousness, all your own holiness, all your own sanctification, all your own duties, all your own tears, all your own repentings, etc. Oh, this is hard!
You must bring nothing but your sins and miseries to Him. Otherwise, Christ is not fit for you–nor you for Christ!
Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.
My Thoughts 💭
Ouch! We all know how much it hurts when we fail to put our trust in faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, it can really hurt us.
🙏 Prayer 4 2day!
Holy Father, forgive us when we’ve been the unreliable friend, help us to walk in your Spirit and show your steadfast love to others, in Jesus name, amen.
“We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
See what cause the saints have to be frequent in the work of thanksgiving! In this, Christians are defective; though they are much in supplication–yet they are little in thanksgiving. The apostle says. “In everything give thanks!“1 Thessalonians 5:18
Why so? Because God makes everything work together for our good.
We thank the physician, though he gives us a bitter medicine which makes us nauseated–because it is to make us well. We thank any man who does us a good turn; and shall we not be thankful to God–who makes everything work for good to us?
God loves a thankful Christian! Job thanked God when He took all away: “The Lord has taken away–blessed be the name of the Lord!” Job 1:21. Many will thank God when He gives; Job thanks Him when He takes away, because he knew that God would work good out of it.
We read of saints with harps in their hands–an emblem of praise. Revelation 14:2. Yet we meet many Christians who have tears in their eyes, and complaints in their mouths! But there are few with their harps in their hands–who praise God in affliction.
To be thankful in affliction–is a work peculiar to a saint. Every bird can sing in spring–but few birds will sing in the dead of winter! Everyone, almost, can be thankful in prosperity–but a true saint can be thankful in adversity!
Well may we, in the worst that befalls us, have a psalm of thankfulness–because God works all things together for our good. Oh, be much in giving thanks to God!
~ ~ ~ ~
And did the Holy and the Just, The Sovereign of the skies, Stoop down to wretchedness and dust, That guilty worms might rise?
Yes, the Redeemer left His throne, His radiant throne on high, (Surprising mercy! love unknown!) To suffer, bleed, and die!
He took the dying traitor’s place, And suffered in his stead; For man (O miracle of grace!) For man, the Savior bled!
Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell In Your atoning blood! By this are sinners snatched from Hell, And rebels brought to God!
What glad return can I impart For favors so divine? O take my all, this worthless heart, And make it wholly Thine! Anne Steele, 1859
My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste.
My Thoughts 💭
Each time i read this proverb i think of my lovely wife Sarah. When she has a bad hypo and her blood sugar goes really low (she has type 1 diabetes – T1D), Sarah always has a piece of toast with local honey on the top. Honey is good and it’s definitely sweet to the taste! 😀
The Word of God must be . . . nearer to us than our friends, dearer to us than our lives, sweeter to us than our liberty, and pleasanter to us than all earthly comforts.
Take the candle of God’s Word and search the corners of your heart.
We speak to God in prayer. God speaks to us in His Word.
All arguments against the Word of God are fallacies; all ideas against the Word are delusions; all derision against the Word is folly; and all opposition against the Word is madness.
When God threatens, that’s a time to repent; when He promises, that’s a time to believe; when He commands, that’s a time to obey.
If a man believed the threatenings of the Word of God, he would tremble and fly to the promises for refuge.hrist came out of His Father’s bosom, so the promises came out of Christ’s riven side.
“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire!” Luke 3
We have, in these verses, a specimen of John the Baptist’s ministry. It is a portion of Scripture which should always be especially interesting to a Christian mind.
We should first mark the holy boldness with which John addresses the multitudes who came to his baptism. He speaks to them as a “brood of vipers!” He saw the rottenness and hypocrisy of the profession which the crowd around him were making, and uses language descriptive of their case. His head was not turned by popularity. He did not care who was offended by his words. The spiritual disease of those before him was desperate, and of long standing–and he knew that desperate diseases need strong remedies!
Well would it be for the Church of Christ, if it possessed more plain speaking ministers in our days–like John the Baptist.
A morbid dislike to strong language; an excessive fear of giving offence; a constant flinching from directness and plain speaking– are, unhappily, too much the characteristics of the modern Christian pulpit.
Uncharitable language is no doubt always to be deprecated. But there is no charity . . . in flattering unconverted people, in abstaining from any mention of their vices, or in applying smooth names to damnable sins!
There are two texts which are too much forgotten by Christian preachers. In one it is written, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.” Luke 6:26. In the other it is written, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men–or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were trying to please men–I would not be Christ’s servant.” Galatians 1:10
We should mark, also–how plainly John speaks to his hearers about HELL and danger! He tells them that there is a “coming wrath!” He speaks of “the ax” of God’s judgment–and of unfruitful trees being “thrown into the fire!”
The subject of HELL is always offensive to human nature. The minister who dwells much upon it–must expect to find himself regarded as barbaric, violent, unfeeling and narrow-minded!
Men love to hear “smooth things,” and to be told of peace, and not of danger. Isaiah 30:10
But the subject of Hell is one that ought not to be kept back, if we desire to do good to souls. It is one that our Lord Jesus Christ brought forward frequently in His public teachings. That loving Savior, who spoke so graciously of the way to Heaven–has also used the plainest language about the way to Hell.
Let us beware of being wise above that which is written, and more charitable than Scripture itself. Let the language of John the Baptist be deeply engraved on our hearts. Let us never be ashamed to avow our firm belief, that there is a “coming wrath” for the impenitent; and that it is possible for a man to be lost, as well as to be saved.
To be silent on the subject–is dreadful treachery to men’s souls. It only encourages them to persevere in wickedness, and fosters the devil’s old delusion in their minds, “You shall not surely die!” Genesis 3:4
That minister is surely our best friend–who tells us honestly of danger, and warns us, like John the Baptist, to “flee from the wrath to come!”
Never will a man flee–until he sees that there is real cause to be afraid. Never will he seek Heaven–until he is convinced that he is on his way to Hell.
The religion in which there is no mention of Hell–is not the religion of John the Baptist, or of our Lord Jesus and His apostles!
The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.
My Thoughts 💭
Coming from a broken home and being brought up with the life long radiation fallout of this…Love is whatever affection you can grab, and women where objectified. The Lord was certainly angry at me and my lifestyle and being trapped in pit after pit…
But God who is rich in love and mercy reached down and saved me. His Word was a sharp sword that cut straight through my soul and showed me what His true love is, and working through my lovely wife Sarah to show, teach and grow to be a husband fit for a princess! 😀 🙏🏻
(J.C. Ryle, 1884) A great change has taken place in the last forty years. A quantity of church work is continually being carried on both by clergymen and laymen, which, however well-meant, can hardly be called Christian–and in reality has a painful tendency to throw true Christian work into the background, if not to throw it entirely out!
No one, for instance, can fail to observe that a large number of professors are spending all their time and strength on church music, church decorations, church programs, and an incessant round of church attractions. Others are equally absorbed in social work, feeding the poor, and improved dwellings for everyone. Others are incessantly getting up popular concerts, secular lectures, and evening recreations. They proclaim everywhere, that the way to do good is to amuse people!
Others are always occupied with secular guilds, and societies, and associations–and think you very wrong and heathenish if you do not join them. Myriads of professors are restlessly busy about such things from one end of the land to the other; and superficial observers are often saying, “What a great deal of church-work there is in these days!”
Now I would not for a moment be supposed to mean that all the things I have just mentioned are wrong and wicked. Yet I doubt whether the present state of things is altogether healthy. I doubt whether the work of the Holy Spirit on hearts and consciences, is not insensibly being left out in the cold and neglected. Amidst the incessant hustle and bustle about matters of entirely secondary importance–I doubt whether the sort of direct spiritual work to which the Apostles wholly gave themselves, receives as much attention as it ought.
It is quite certain that musical services, and church decorations, and concerts, and bazaars, and social work, and the like–will not save souls.
It is equally certain that, without repentance, and faith, and holy living, and practical, self-denying, kindly charity–no one is fit for Heaven. Do these simple, old-fashioned graces fill the place which they ought to do, in the daily proceedings of many so-called church-workers in this day? I confess I doubt it exceedingly.
I certainly see on every side a vast increase of what people call “church-work.” But there is little or no increase of true religion. There undoubtedly is more show and glitter and display. But I extremely doubt whether there is more spiritual reality, and more growth of practical godliness.
“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.” Hebrews 4:15
There is no comfort, but in Christ’s bosom.
There is no safety, but by Christ’s side.
There is no strength, but in Christ’s arm.
There is no holiness, but in Christ’s footsteps.
Look up and see Christ, the merciful and gracious Savior, bending over you in most tender compassion. He is very near to you. He marks . . . each sigh, each desire, each tear, each prayer. He thinks upon and sympathizes with you.
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
My Thoughts 💭
Living in England(and probably your country too?), you grow up learning that drinking alcohol isn’t just a pasttime, it’s a national sport and essential to be cool. How deceitful is sin and the world?!
One of my fave quotes is: “I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.” ― William Shakespeare
Let’s thank God today for his Truth and Wisdom that never changes…It changes us! 😀
“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. His ears are open unto their cry.” Psalm 34:15 The Lord observes His redeemed people with approval and tender consideration. They are so dear to Him, that He cannot take His eyes off them! He watches each one of them as carefully and intently, as if there were only that one creature in the whole universe!
Thus the Lord’s eyes and ears are both turned upon His saints. His whole mind is occupied with them. If they are slighted by all others–they are never neglected by Him. He hears their cry at once, even as a mother is sure to hear her sick babe. The cry may be broken, plaintive or feeble–yet the Father’s quick ear catches each note of lament or appeal, and He is quick to answer His children’s voice!
“The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and His ears are attentive to their prayers.” 1 Peter 3:12
A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
My Thoughts 💭
How many times do you see/hear this Truth throughout life. When i first became a Christian and thought i was reading the bible, when all of the time it was reading me. Let’s thank God today for hisliving breathing Word that transforms! 🙏🏻
“Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
We should observe what a high commendation our Lord Jesus Christ pronounced on Mary’s choice.There was a deep meaning in these words. They were spoken not only for Mary’s sake, but for the sake of all Christ’s believing people in every part of the world. They were meant to encourage all true Christians . . . to be single-eyed and whole-hearted, to follow the Lord fully, to walk closely with God, to make soul-business immeasurably their first business, and to think comparatively little of the things of this fleeting world.
The true Christian’s portion is the grace of God. It is the only good thing which is substantial, satisfying, real, and lasting. The grace of God is . . . better in sickness–and better in health, better in youth–and better in old age, better in adversity–and better in prosperity, better in life–and better in death, better in time–and better in eternity. No circumstance and no position can be imagined, in which it is not better for man to have the grace of God.
The true Christian’s possession shall never be taken from him. He alone, of all mankind, shall never be stripped of his inheritance. Kings must one day leave their palaces. Rich men must one day leave their money and lands–they only hold them until they die.
But the poorest saint on earth has a treasure of which he will never be deprived. The grace of God, and the favor of Christ–are riches which no man can take from him. They will go with him to the grave when he dies. They will rise with him in the resurrection morning, and be his to all eternity!
What do we know of this “better part” which Mary chose? Have we chosen it for ourselves? Can we say with truth that it is ours? Let us never rest until we can. Let us choose life, while Christ offers it to us without money and without price. Let us seek treasure in Heaven–lest we awake to find that we are paupers forevermore!
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
My Thoughts 💭
Amen! Wow this jumps out at me every time i read Proverbs 18. For you who know about my lovely wife Sarah and have read “My Testimony“, will understand why i wrap this around my heart and thank God every day for Sarah! Although Sarah found me, lol. 😀
It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our death beds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace. Grace wondrous grace. By the grace of God I am what I am. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
“The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.” Psalm 6:9
“You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted” Psalm 10:17 “This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles” Psalm 34:6
“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles”Psalm 34:17
“Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice” Psalm 55:17
“God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer”Psalm 66:19
“I love the LORD, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy”Psalm 116:1
“I call on the LORD in my distress, and He answers me”Psalm 120:1
“He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.”Psalm 145:19 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayer” 1 Peter 3:12
Christian! God is near at hand whenever you approach Him in prayer. Oh, comforting truth! You have a God at hand . . . to listen to the softest breath of prayer, to listen to every confession of sin, to listen to every cry of need, to listen to every utterance of sorrow, to listen to every wail of woe, to listen to every appeal for counsel, strength and support!
Arise, O my soul! and give yourself to prayer, for God is near at hand to hear and answer you!
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
“That the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You have loved Me!” John 17:23
Can you believe it . . . that you should be the object of God’s delight, that you should be the object of the Father’s love as truly as Christ is!
See the amazing sacrifice which the Father made in giving Jesus to us.
Think what it cost Him to tear His Well-Beloved from His bosom and send Him down below to be despised and rejected.
Think what it cost Him to nail Jesus up to yonder cross, and then forsake Him and hide His face from Him, because He had laid all our sins upon Him.
Oh, the love He must have had to us, thus to have made His best Beloved to become a curse for us, as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree!”
I want you to get this truth right into your souls, dear friends. Do not hold it as a dry doctrine, but let it penetrate your heart.
Oh, when the river of God’s great love to us came rolling in like a mighty torrent, what a sea of love was there! Now we are borne onward forever by the mighty sweep of infinite love into an everlasting blessedness which tongues and lips can never fully set forth! Oh, be ravished with this! Be in ecstasy at love so amazing, so divine! The Father loves you even as He loves His Son! After the same manner and sort, He loves all His redeemed people.
Can you believe it!
Oh, if the love of Jesus once enters into a man’s soul . . . it will forever transform him, it will sway him with the noblest passions, it will make him a zealot for Christ, it will cast out his pride and selfishness, it will change him into the image of Christ, and fit him to dwell in Heaven where love is eternally perfected.
“The Lord raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy from the dunghill!” Psalm 113:7
What a gracious stoop of love! He frequently lifts the lowest of mankind out of their poverty and degradation, and adopts them into His family.
His gracious Spirit is continually visiting the down-trodden, giving beauty for ashes to those who are cast down, and elevating the hearts of His mourners until they shout for joy.
These upliftings of grace are here ascribed directly to the divine hand, and truly those who have experienced them will not doubt the fact that it is the Lord alone who brings His people up from the dust of sorrow and death. When no hand but His can help, He interposes and the work is done.
“And lifts the needy from the dunghill” whereon they lay like worthless refuse, cast off and cast out–left as they thought, to rot into destruction, and to be everlastingly forgotten. How great a stoop from the height of His throne, to a dunghill! How wonderful is that power which occupies itself in lifting up beggars, all befouled with the filthiness in which they lay! For He lifts them out of the dunghill, not disdaining to search them out from amidst the base things of the earth–that He may bring to nothing the great ones, and pour contempt upon all human glorying.
What a dunghill was that upon which we lay by nature!
What a mass of corruption is our original estate!
What a heap of loathsomeness we have accumulated by our sinful lives!
We could never have risen out of this corruption by our own efforts–we were dead men rotting in a dunghill of sin!
Almighty were the arms which lifted us, which are still lifting us, and will lift us into the perfection of Heaven itself!
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
Jesus could accomplish man’s redemption in no other way than by crucifixion. He must die–and die the death of the cruel cross.
What light and glory beam aroundthe cross!
Of what prodigies of grace, is it the instrument, of what glorious truths, is it the symbol, of what mighty transforming power, is it the source!
Around the cross gathers all the light of the Old Testament economy: it explains every symbol, it substantiates every shadow, it solves every mystery, it fulfills every type, it confirms every prophecy, of that dispensation which had eternally remained unmeaning and inexplicable, but for the death of the Son of God upon the cross.
Not the past only–but all future splendor gathers around the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It assures us of the ultimate reign of the Savior, and tells of the reward which shall spring from His sufferings. And while its one arm points to the divine counsels of eternity past–with the other it points to the future triumph and glory of Christ’s kingdom in the eternity to come! Such is the lowly yet sublime, the weak yet mighty instrument, by which the sinner is saved and God eternally glorified.
The cross of Christ is . . . the grand consummation of all preceding dispensations of God to men; the meritorious procuring cause of all spiritual blessings to our fallen race; the scene of Christ’s splendid victories over all His enemies and ours; the most powerful incentive to all evangelical holiness; the instrument which is to subjugate the world to the supremacy of Jesus; the source of all true peace, joy and hope; the tree beneath whose shadow all sin expires, all grace lives.
The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! What a holy thrill these words produce in the heart of those who love the Savior! How significant is their meaning, how precious is their influence!
Marvelous and irresistible, is the power of the cross! The cross of Christ has . . . subdued many a rebellious will; broken many a marble heart; laid low many a vaunting foe; overcome and triumphed, when all other instruments have failed; transformed the lion like heart of man, into the lamb like heart of Christ!
When lifted up in its own bare simplicity and inimitable grandeur–the cross of Christ has won and attracted millions to its faith, admiration, and love!
What a marvelous power does this cross of Jesus possess! It changes the Christian’s entire judgment of the world. Looking at the world through the cross–his opinion is totally revolutionized. He sees the world as it really is–a sinful, empty, vain thing. He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory. His expectations from the world, and his love to the world, are transformed. He has found another object of love–the Savior whom the world cast out and slew. His love to the world is destroyed by that power which alone could destroy it–the crucifying power of the cross.
It is the cross which eclipses, in the view of the true believer, the glory and attraction of every other object.
What is the weapon by which faith combats with, and overcomes the world? What but the cross of Jesus!
Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun, is blinded for the moment to all other objects by its overpowering effulgence; so to the believer, concentrating his mind upon the glory of the crucified Savior, studying closely the wonders of graceand love and truth meeting in the cross–the world with all its attraction fades into the full darkness of an eclipse.
Christ and His cross infinitely better than the world and its trinkets!
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
“I will rejoice over them to do them good.” Jeremiah 32:41
“As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you!”Isaiah 62:5
The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you . . . He will rejoice over you with singing!” Zephaniah 3:17
How heart-cheering to the believer, is the delight which God has in His redeemed people!
We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us. We cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness.
And we fear that God’s people cannot take much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they may rather lament our infirmities, than admire our graces.
But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious mystery–that as the bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us!
We do not read anywhere that God delights in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars–but we do read that His delights are with the sons of men.
We do not find it written that even angels give His soul delight; nor does He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, “You shall be called Hephzibah, for the Lord delights in you”; but He does say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and depraved by sin–but redeemed and saved by His grace.
In what strong language He expresses His delight in His people! Who could have conceived of the eternal One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, “He will take great delight in you . . . He will rejoice over you with singing!”
As He looked upon the world He had made, He said, “It is very good”. But when He beheld those who are the purchase of Jesus’ blood, His own chosen ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer–but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy.
Should not we utter our grateful response to such a marvelous declaration of His love, and sing, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!”
O God the Holy Spirit, have mercy upon us miserable sinners. Move, we beseech You, in our disordered hearts. Remove the deformities of unruly desires and hateful lusts. Chase away the mists and darkness of unbelief. Brighten our inner man with the pure light of truth. Sow abundantly the seeds of righteousness. Make our souls fragrant as the garden of the Lord. Enrich them with every godly fruit. Beautify them with heavenly grace. Be our comforter, our guide, our light, our sanctification.
Especially take of the things of Christ, and show them with enlarged power to our longing souls. May we daily learn more of His love, His grace, His tender compassion, His faithfulness, and His beauty. May we delight ourselves in Him with increased delight. Lead us to the cross, and show us in His wounds–the hateful character of sin. May we see our sins, as . . . the nails which transfixed Him, the cords which bound Him, the sword which pierced Him, the thorns which tore Him, the taunts which stung Him.
Help us to read in His cruel death, the reality and immensity of His love.
Open to us the wondrous volumes of glorious truth in the cry, “It is finished!” Our atonement is forever achieved, our debt is fully paid, all our guilt is washed away, all our sins most righteously forgiven, our souls saved, Hell vanquished, the devil crushed, Heaven won, and eternity of glory our rightful home!
Holy Spirit, deepen in us these saving lessons. Write them with Your finger on the tablets of our hearts.
May our walk be . . . sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ-loving, God-fearing!
“We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:28
The Christian does not merely hold this truth as a theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact. Everything has worked for good as yet.
The poisonous drugs mixed in fit proportions, have worked the cure.
The sharp cuts of the lancet, have cleansed out the infected flesh and facilitated the healing.
In every event of your life, God has always worked out the most divinely blessed results.
Believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings good out of evil–the believer’s heart is comforted, and he is enabled calmly to meet each trial as it comes. The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine! Send me what You will, my Father, so long as it comes from You!”
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5
“You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or covetous person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a covetous person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world.” Ephesians 5:5 The love of money under every form, insinuates itself into every heart.
A day is fast approaching when it will be clearly seen whether Christ or Mammon has swayed our affections. Covetousness, in the language of Scripture, is the desire of having more. If we are habitually desirous of riches, for their own sake, we are, in the estimation of God, covetous people, idolaters, the servants of mammon. Our station may be exalted; our profession of religion may be outwardly strict, but still our destruction is sure.
There are, perhaps, few sins which assume so plausible an appearance; and for which so many excuses are made as for that ofcovetousness. And hence it is that we have need to guard so much the citadel of the heart. Covetousness, eatinglike a canker, upon the vitals of our religion–is the crying evil of both the Church and of the world!
What advantage did Lot’s wife, Achan, Gehazi, Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira, gain by their desire for more? They reaped shame and death; and now stand as beacons in the Word of God to warn us against their soul-destroying sin!
“For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?” Luke 9:25
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes!” Romans 1:16
To try to win a soul to Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the mind of the Spirit. To endeavor to save men by mere claptrap, or entertainments, or excitements, or oratorical displays–is as foolish as to hope to bind an angel with a string, or to lure a star with music!
The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men, is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency. The gospel is an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart–a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else. Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel.
You need no other nets when you fish for men; those your Master has given you are strong enough for the large fish, and have meshes fine enough to hold the little ones.
Spread those nets and no others, and you need not fear the fulfillment of His Word, “I will make you fishers of men.”
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book.” Psalm 56:8
“Behold, he is praying!” Acts 9:11
Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul began to pray, the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted one bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears; yet that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God and treasured in the lachrymatory of Heaven. “You have collected all my tears in Your bottle.” This implies that they are caught as they flow!
The suppliant, who groans out his words, will be well understood by the Most High God. He may only look up with misty eye; but prayer is the falling of a tear! Tears are the diamonds of Heaven!Sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah’s court, and are numbered with the most sublime strains which reach the majesty on high!
Do not think that your prayers, however weak or trembling, will be unregarded. Our God not only hears prayers, but also loves to hear them. “He does not forget the cry of the humble.”
True, He does not regard proud looks and lofty words. He no concern for the pomp and pageantry of kings. He does not listen not to the swell of martial music. He does not regard the triumph and pride of man.
But wherever there is a contrite heart full with sorrow, or a lip quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh葉he heart of Jehovah is open! He marks that prayer down in the registry of His memory! He puts our prayers, like rose leaves傭etween the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last there shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom!
“The LORD said: I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them . . .” Exodus 3:7, 8
Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious light, than when He is spoken of as stooping from His throne and coming down from Heaven to attend to the wants and woes of His redeemed people.
How can we but love Him, when we know that He . . . numbers the very hairs of our heads, marks all our paths, and orders all our ways? When a tear is wept by you–do not think that God does not behold it, for . . . “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book.” Psalm 56:8
Your sigh is able to move the heart of Jehovah, your whisper can incline His ear unto you, your prayer can stay His hand, your faith can move His arm!
Do not think that God sits on high taking no account of you. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.
“Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age!” Matthew 28:20
It is well that there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It is well that there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life. O my soul, do not set your affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures–but set your heart upon Him who abides forever faithful to you. Do not build your house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world–but found your hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure!
My soul, I charge you–lay up your treasure in the only secure cabinet; store your jewels where you can never lose them. Put your all in Christ; set . . . all your affections on His person, all your hope in His merit, all your trust in His efficacious blood, all your joy in His presence, and so you may laugh at loss and defy difficulties.
Remember that all the flowers in the world’s garden wither and die–and the day is coming when nothing will be left but the black, cold earth. Death’s black extinguisher must soon put out your candle. Oh! how sweet to have sunlight–when the candle is gone! The dark flood must soon roll between you and all you have!
So wed your heart to Him who will never leave you. Trust yourself with Him who will go with you through the black and surging current of death’s stream, and who will land you safely on the celestial shore, and make you sit with Him in heavenly places forever!
Go, sorrowing son of affliction–tell your secret troubles to the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. Trust all your concerns with Him . . . who never can be taken from you, who will never leave you, and who will never let you leave Him, even “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
“I am with you always,” is enough for my soul to live upon–though all others forsake me!
July 3, 2023 
iChristian 
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