December 23, 2020 
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“This is the meaning of Christmas. Oh, that God would waken your heart to your deep need for mercy as a sinner! And then ravish your heart with a great Savior, Jesus Christ. And then release your tongue to praise him and your hands to make his mercy shine in yours.”
John Piper, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent
December 22, 2020 0 Comments
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.
Chuck Swindoll
December 21, 2020 0 Comments
“Thus says the Lord: the meaning of Christmas is that what is good and precious in your life need never be lost, and what is evil and undesirable in your life can be changed. The fears that the few good things that make you happy are slipping through your fingers, and the frustrations that the bad things you hate about yourself or your situation can’t be changed—these fears and these frustrations are what Christmas came to destroy. It is God’s message of hope this Advent that what is good need never be lost and what is bad can be changed.”
John Piper, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent
August 20, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#10. Study both to live and die in the exercise of repentance and godly mourning for sin. (Matthew 5:4)
August 19, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#9. Let the rational soul govern, and the body be subservient to it. (1 Corinthians 9:27)
August 18, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#8. Throughout your whole life be mindful of the chief business of life. (Philippians 2:12)
August 15, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#7. Allow a little time every day to think upon eternity. (Matthew 25:46)
August 14, 2020 2 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#6. Put a high value upon precious time, and lose none of it by sloth. (Ephesians 5:16)
August 13, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#5. Shun the company that shuns God, and keep the company that God keeps. (Psalm 119:63)
August 12, 2020 1 Comment
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#4. Begin early in the service of God, and give Him the days of your youth. (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
August 11, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#3. Be not strangers to yourselves, but often commune with your own hearts. (Psalm 4:4)
August 10, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#2. Keep up the same opinion now of things of the world, that you will have when you come to die. (Matthew 16:26)
August 9, 2020 0 Comments
40 Scripture Directions…
John Willison, 1680-1750
#1. Never let the world come into God’s place. (1 John 2:15)
April 17, 2020 2 Comments
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.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
April 16, 2020 0 Comments
Don’t look to the future when you might be in a better situation to serve God. Serve Him today, whatever your situation may be.
April 14, 2020 0 Comments
Oh, comforting truth!
“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
April 13, 2020 2 Comments
Oh, be ravished with this!
(Charles Spurgeon)
“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.
April 12, 2020 0 Comments
We were dead men rotting in a dunghill of sin!
(Charles Spurgeon, “Treasury of David“)
“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!
April 12, 2020 5 Comments
💬 Quote 4 2day…
“You have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful!“
April 10, 2020 5 Comments
Looking at the world through the cross!
(Octavius Winslow)
“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 around the 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
April 9, 2020 5 Comments
The delight which God has in His redeemed people!
“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!”
April 8, 2020 2 Comments
May we see our sins
(Henry Law, “Family Prayers”)
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!
April 7, 2020 4 Comments
Believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings good out of evil
(Charles Spurgeon)
“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!”
April 4, 2020 6 Comments
The diamonds of Heaven!
“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!
April 2, 2020 3 Comments
There is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life!
(Charles Spurgeon)
“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!
March 28, 2020 26 Comments
Hi friends. As it is 20 years to the day since i went blind…I thought i’d share one of my older posts(yet updated) from 4 years ago when i was asked to share a little of what i went through when i lost my sight at 24.
I really hope that you’ll have the time to read it, and that it blesses you in some small way?!
Here Goes…
I was asked by our Minister Nik if i would share my Testimony in the parade service. The theme was ‘Faith through Adversity’, Nik said “i can ask you some straight forward questions, it will only take about 5 minutes(or so we thought)” “Yeah, ok, if you think it will help?”.
Sunday 8th May 2016…
Walking into the church building Sunday morning, it was quite full, as it was parade service, the scouts and other uniformed groups were there, but Nik found us seats at the front, then showed me up the steps and where i’d stand to speak, after testing the microphone i remembered the steps and sat back down.
As i’m blind, i can’t use any notes, so i spent a little time trying to etch some answer headings into my mind, hoping i’d not veer too far off track. I then prayed that i’d use this time to Glorify Him, as i talked about the Truth that sets us free, and how i’m not ashamed of the Gospel, it’s the power of God unto Salvation to all who believe…please make it real(be careful praying this, lol).
It;s time…
Steve, we are looking at people who have showed faith in difficult circumstances and I have asked you to share some of your story with us.
Many people here, even those who have seen you around at various church events may not know that you are blind.
My Testimony…
Nik stood next to me at the microphone and started with the first 2 questions:
Have you always been blind? How and when did you loose your sight?
I explained i’d been fully sighted until i was 24, and after 2 brain haemorrhages(March – July 2000) that burst my optic nerve, i’m now registered blind and have Severe Hypertensive Retinopathy.
“How did that change your life?”
I said “I can only scratch the surface this morning, but if ever you see me walking around here or in town, please ask me anything. But now i’ll try and sketch you a quick picture and give you a flavour of what happened…”
“I went to the gym 6-7 days a week, played football most evenings and was quite violent, acting the tough guy. I wasn’t a Christian, i hadn’t been born again, or even been inside a church building…so…As i stepped out of the eye consultants office after being told i’d be blind for the rest of my life, it was out of character but i collapsed on the floor sobbingg my eyes out. And as my crying out got a little too loud they pulled me into a small empty room….And this was the easy bit”.
“Following this was pure isolation… all my football mates left me, i lost my job, my car and ability to do anything…i lost everything, i was completely broken, and on top of that i was left to my acusing thoughts “Nobody wants you, you’re useless now, unwanted, rejected, unloved and unlovable!!”
Suddenly, as i was telling my story…
My mouth was silenced, an image of Jesus in Glory(Revelation 1) filled my mind, it was so clear(not blurred by my blindness) I could see His flaming eyes of judgment…then…the image changed, it was Jesus on the cross, now His eyes were filled with Mercy, Compassion & Grace, and while looking down straight at me he said “I did this for you, so that you can live. I…LOVE…YOU!!!
I started sobbing uncontrollably, and it took a couple of minutes for me to try and start talking again….but more sobbing…i was completely undone. But these tears were different!
I already knew He’d given His life so i could live. He’d come down so far to save me it is immeasurable. His blood washed me clean, white as snow. He’s forgiven me all my sins, past, present and future, and there is no more condemnation for me, it is finished!
I’d been praying for so long for God to “Break my heart for what broke His” and sang the songs many times, but rarely had i caught a glimpse of the true cost of His Love, and His free gift of Grace to those who Repent and Believe in Him. I knew He wanted me to share the True Gospel to people listening(and now reading), as it alone is the only Hope. It is the Power of God unto Salvation for anyone that believes.
Still sobbing, i continued…
My every word was a different pitch but i said “My pit was so dark, my accusing thoughts were too heavy, and this led to a daily cycle of waking up and trying to kill myself…failing, which made me feel worse…then drinking so much i could drown them out for the rest of the day, until i woke the next day, then it started again.
I didn’t have the strength to kill myself, and i didn’t have the strength to live…i was without God, and without Hope!
Nik, who’s hand was rested on my shoulder asked question 4 “I know you were deeply unhappy at the time, what changed that?”
The world followed it’s pattern and sent me to Counselling, then Psychotherapy & finally Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, they didn’t work, they all had no answer for me, they couldn’t reach far enough down to pull me out. I needed a Saviour, I needed the light of the Gospel!
The Good News & Lovely Sarah…
Meeting Sarah changed my life! I have no idea how she’s put up with me. She’s been so patient and long suffering as i tried attacking her Faith and this Jesus! But she kept on loving me. Sarah always seemed to have a rock to stand on no matter how bad things got for her, and i was being dragged deeper into the sinking sand. She always had this Blessed Hope that i didn’t,
Jesus worked through Sarah to shine the light of the Gospel, the Good News i was dying for.
Words failed me as i was trying to describe how much i love Sarah, so when my mind filled with thoughts of how far we’ve grown together in love…i broke down again.
The sobbing was still making me pause every few words, but mentioned Jesus doesn’t want to see anyone perish, but he pursues you, He has come to seek and save that which is lost. He loves you and no matter how bad or hopeless you think you are, He’ll keep coming with His free gift of Salvation!
Nik asked Question 5 “some people would say that your life must be worse now, would you agree with them?”
I’d gone way over my time slot, and i was almost pulled away from the mic as i was so overwhelmed…BUT i knew these tears were not about me, or my losses. I had 1 focus and that was to share the Truth that sets us free. I had no feeling of sorrow or pain. I knew it must have seemed like this to the congregation, and i thought they’d stick me in a counselling room when i’d finished!
The Holy Spirit was filling me like never before, and made the Power of the Gospel so real to me i almost exploded.
I continued “I wouldn’t agree with anyone who thinks(or measures) life by how good our circumstances are. I’d lead them to 2 Corinthians 4 & 5 where it talks about living by Faith, not by Sight, and now that we are born again in the Spirit, we should walk by the Spirit. Not living for things that are seen which are temporary(like my sight loss), but living for the unseen which is Eternal”
“I used to hate this song, but now i’d play it every service if i could…have you heard Amazing Grace, the Chris Tomlin version? If you pass me in the street you’ll normally hear me singing or humming these words:”
“Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see. My chains are gone I’ve been set free. My God, my Saviour has ransomed me. And like a flood His mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace”.
“I’ve never seen so clearly since going blind” This is one of my fave sayings. 😀
Nik then walked me back to my seat next to Sarah. The church was completely silent, it had been silent since i first started sobbing. I could feel Sarah was upset as she didn’t react for a while, then she said “People kept on running up and passing me tissues”. Nik sat down next to Sarah, and Sarah said “You’re not borrowing him again to speak”.
After the service people came over and said they really connected with the things i said, although i think everyone thinks i’m back in dark depression again, lol.
He showed me the reality and Power of transformation in His Gospel, and how vital it is to share it, as Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no-one gets to the Father but by Him. He’s the forgiver of Sins, breaker of chains, and the only Salvation for Eternal Life in Heaven.
John 3:14-21 New King James Version (NKJV)
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[a] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
I felt i needed to share this post to try and explain a little more of what was happening to me, and maybe reach out to someone who is struggling with the creeping death called Depression,or who is just simply lost and without God, and without Hope.
March 24, 2020 0 Comments
We come on our own, we come together. We come with our excitement and with our lack of expectation.
We come with our lamps burning brightly and with our lamps hidden.
We come with our longing and with our pride.
We come with our words and with our silence.
We come with our music and with our resentments.
We come to you, God of truth, with our hands open
and ask that you reach out to us afresh.
Lord forgive our hardness of heart
Forgive us for those times when we think we can do it without you
Forgive us for our coldness towards you and others
Melt the ice of our coldness and breathe your new life into us
Generous God,
we thank you that a small amount of salt
can season a whole meal;
a small candle can light a whole room,
a small act of kindness inspire a whole life,
a small community transform a whole city,
a small prayer bring near a whole kingdom.
We thank you, Lord, we thank you.
Please show me the areas of my life which have become flavourless?!
Show me in what ways can I be salt in my world?
We pray, gracious God, for your Church throughout the world, for your Church in this nation, in this place, that we would be light bearers and truth bearers. May we shed the light of encouragement where there is disappointment; the light of integrity where there is corruption; the light of clarity where there is uncertainty; the light of challenge where there is complacency; the light of acceptance where there is rejection. And may we always walk and pray and serve in the light of humility and in the strength of your name, that others may see you in us and give you the glory.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
May you be as salt where there is staleness;
light where there is darkness;
truth where there is unbelief
and love where there is great need.
And may you know the blessing of God the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit,
close to you each moment and each day.
March 24, 2020 3 Comments
The one indispensable book!
(Daniel March, 1870)
The Bible is the oldest–and the newest of books.
The Bible surveys the whole field of time–and it looks farthest into the infinite depths of eternity.
The Bible lends the most vivid and absorbing interest to the scenes and events of the past–and it keeps us in the most active sympathy with the time in which we live.
The Bible gives us the most reliable record of what has been–and it affords us our only means of knowing what is yet to be.
The Bible is holy enough to denounce the very shadow and semblance of sin–and it is merciful enough to save the chief of sinners.
The Bible is full of God–and must therefore be read with a pure heart, or its true glory will not be seen.
The Bible is full of man–and must therefore always be interesting and instructive to all who would know themselves.
The Bible is the plainest of books–and yet it has depths of wisdom which no created mind can fathom.
The Bible is set up as a beacon to show all wanderers the safe way–and yet its light shines forth from thick clouds of mystery, and from abysses of infinite darkness.
The Bible describes all conditions of life–and it gives utterance to all desires and emotions of the soul.
The Bible has a song of triumph for the overcomer–and a wail of defeat for the overcome.
The Bible . . .
sparkles with the fervor and gladness of youth,
celebrates the strength and glory of manhood,
bewails the sorrows and infirmities of old age.
The Bible . . .
exults in the mighty deeds of kings and conquerors,
sympathizes with the poor and lowly,
lifts up the fallen,
delivers the oppressed, and
breathes the blessing of peace upon the quiet homes of domestic life.
The Bible describes with startling clearness . . .
the seductions of temptation,
the conflicts of doubt and
the miseries of skepticism.
The Bible . . .
searches the secret chambers of the heart,
brings to light its purest love and its darkest hate,
reveals its highest joy and its deepest grief.
The Bible compasses the utmost range of thought and feeling and desire–and it sounds the utmost depth of motive and characterand passion.
Thus in the Bible,
God and man,
earth and heaven,
time and eternity–
speak with one voice and teach the same truth.
The Bible sets forth the most spiritual and heavenly truths–in the lights and shadows of earthly scenes and human characters.
Thus the Bible is the one indispensable book . . .
for all ages–and all nations,
for all classes of men–and all states of society,
for all capacities of intellect–and all necessities of the soul!
March 19, 2020 0 Comments
They sing best in their cages!
(Charles Spurgeon)
“In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name!” Psalm 33:21
Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress. Although trouble may surround them, they still sing. Like many birds–they sing best in their cages!
The waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the surface and see the light of God’s countenance.
In times of trouble, the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy.
He is sick and suffering, but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him.
He is dying, but Jesus puts His arms around him and cries, “Fear not, beloved, to die is to be blessed–the waters of death have their fountainhead in Heaven. They are not bitter–they are as sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne of God.”
As the departing saint wades through the stream and the billows gather around him, the same voice sounds in his ears, “Fear not, I am with you! Be not dismayed, I am your God.”
As he nears the borders of the infinite unknown, Jesus says, “Fear not, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom!”
Thus strengthened and consoled, the believer is not afraid to die. No, he is even willing to depart, for since he has seen Jesus as the morning star, he longs to gaze upon Him as the sun in its strength. “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!” Philippians 1:23
Truly the presence of Jesus is all the Heaven we desire!
March 14, 2020 0 Comments
What a compassionate, gracious arrangement!
(Susannah Spurgeon, “Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!” 1898)
“My times are in Your hand!” Psalm 31:15
Why then, need I worry or tremble? That great, loving, powerful hand keeps all the events of my life sealed and secure within its almighty clasp! Only He, my Maker and my Master, can permit them to be revealed to me as His will for me. What a compassionate, gracious arrangement! How eminently fitted to fulfill that sweet promise of His Word, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You!” If we fully believed this, we would be absolutely devoid of the worry which corrodes and chafes the daily life of so many professing Christians.
“My times.” Not one or two important epochs of my history only–but everything that concerns me:
joys that I had not expected,
sorrows that must have crushed me, if they could have been anticipated,
sufferings which might have terrified me by their grimness, had I looked upon them,
surprises which infinite love had prepared for me,
services of which I could not have imagined myself capable–
all these lay in that mighty hand, as the purposes of God’s eternal will for me.
But, as they have developed gradually and silently–how great has been the love which appeared enwrapping and enfolding each one!
Has not the grief been measured–while the gladness has far more abounded?
Have not the comforts and consolations–exceeded the crosses and afflictions?
Have not all things been so arranged, and ordered, and undertaken, and worked out on our behalf–that we can but marvel at the goodness and wisdom of God, in meting out from that dear hand of His, all the “times” that have passed over us?
You agree with me in all this, do you not, dear reader? Then I beg you to apply it to your present circumstances, however dark or difficult they may be. They have come directly from your Father’s hand to you, and they are His dear will for you!
February 25, 2020 0 Comments
A cross of their own choosing
(Thomas Watson, “The Art of Divine Contentment“)
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content–whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.” Philippians 4:11-12
Paul knew how to manage in every state–he learned to be content whatever his circumstances.
If he was in prosperity, he knew how to be thankful.
If he was in adversity, he knew how to be patient.
He was neither lifted up with prosperity–nor cast down with adversity.
A Christian should be content in any and every situation. Many are contented in some conditions–but not in every condition. They can be content in a wealthy state. When they have the streams of milk and honey–now they are content. But if the wind turns and is against them–now they are discontented. While they have a silver crutch to lean upon–they are contented; but if God breaks this crutch–now they are discontented.
Many would be content with their affliction–if God would allow them to pick and choose. They could better endure sickness–than poverty; or bear loss of estate–than loss of children. If they might have a cross of their own choosing, they would be content.
But a contented Christian does not desire to choose his cross–but leaves God to choose for him. He is content both for the kindof the afflictions, and the duration of the afflictions, which God gives him. A contented man says, “Let God apply whatevermedicine He pleases, and let it lie on as long as He desires. I know when it has done its cure, and eaten the venom of sin out of my heart–that God will take it away.”
A contented Christian, being sweetly captivated under the authority of the Word, desires to be wholly at God’s disposal, and cheerfully lives in whatever circumstances that God has placed him in. “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.” (2 Corinthians 12:10) He does not only submit to God’s dealings, but rejoices in them!
January 11, 2020 0 Comments
Our proper enjoyment of every earthly blessing
(Hannah More, “The Love of God”)
There are three requirements to our proper enjoyment
of every earthly blessing which God bestows on us:
1. A thankful reflection on the goodness of the Giver.
2. A deep sense of the unworthiness of the receiver.
3. A sober recollection of the precarious tenure by which we hold it.
The first would make us grateful, the second humble, the last moderate.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” James 1:17
January 7, 2020 2 Comments
What is the best remedy against the fear of man?
(J.C. Ryle, “The Gospel of Luke” 1858)
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into Hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!” Luke 12:4-5
One thing that demands our attention in these verses, is Christ’s warning against the fear of man. “Do not be afraid,” He says, “of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.”
But He not only tells us whom we ought not to fear–but of whom we ought to be afraid. “Fear Him,” Jesus says, “Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into Hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!” The manner in which the lesson is conveyed is very striking and impressive. Twice over the exhortation is enforced. “Fear Him!” says our Lord. “Yes, I tell you, fear Him!”
The fear of man is one of the greatest obstacles which stand between the soul and Heaven. “What will others say of me? What will they think of me? What will others do to me?” How often these little questions have turned the balance against the soul, and kept men bound hand and foot by sin and the devil! Thousands would never hesitate a moment to storm a breach–who dare not face the laughter of relatives, neighbors and friends.
Now if the fear of man has such influence in these times–then how much greater must its influence have been in the days when our Lord was upon earth! If it is hard to follow Christ through ridicule and scornful words–then how much harder must it have been to follow Him through prisons, beatings, scourgings, and violent deaths! All these things our Lord Jesus knew well. No wonder that He cries, “Do not be afraid!”
What is the best remedy against the fear of man? How are we to overcome this powerful feeling, and break the chains which it throws around us? There is no remedy like that which our Lord recommends. We must supplant the fear of man by a higher and more powerful principle–the fear of God. We must look away from those who can only hurt the body–to Him who has all dominion over the soul. We must turn our eyes from those who can only injure us in the life that now is–to Him who can condemn us to eternal misery in the life to come. Armed with this mighty principle, we shall not play the coward. Seeing Him that is invisible–we shall find the lesser fear melting away before the greater, and the weaker fear before the stronger.
“I fear God,” said Colonel Gardiner, “and therefore there is no one else that I need fear.” It was a noble saying of martyred Bishop Hooper, when a Roman Catholic urged him to save his life by recanting at the stake, “Life is sweet and death is bitter. But eternal life is more sweet–and eternal death is more bitter!”
November 18, 2019 2 Comments
Engaged in the most menial part of the Lord’s work
(Charles Spurgeon)
“These were potters, and those who dwelt among plants and hedges. They lived there in the service of the King.” 1 Chronicles 4:23
Potters were not the very highest grade of workers–but “the King” needed potters, and therefore they were in royal service, although the material upon which they worked was nothing but clay. We, too, may be engaged in the most menial part of the Lord’s work–but it is a great privilege to do anything for “the King”.
The text tells us of those who dwelt among plants and hedges, having rough hedging and ditching work to do. They may have desired to live in the city, amid its life, society, and refinement–but they kept their appointed places, for they also were doing the King’s work. In the same way, the place of our habitation is fixed by God, and we are not to remove from it out of whim and caprice–but seek to serve the Lord in it, by being a blessing to those among whom we reside.
These potters and gardeners had royal company, for they “lived there in the service of the King.” Just so, no lawful place, or gracious occupation, however lowly, can debar us from communion with our divine Lord. In visiting hovels, swarming lodging-houses, workhouses, or jails–we may go with the King. In all works of faith we may count upon Jesus’ fellowship. It is when we are in His work, that we may reckon upon His smile.
You unknown workers who are occupied for your Lord amid the dirt and wretchedness of the lowest of the low–be of good cheer, for . . .
precious jewels have been found in such lowly places,
earthen pots have been filled with heavenly treasure, and
noxious weeds have been transformed into precious flowers!
Dwell with the King doing His work–and when He writes His chronicles, your name shall be recorded!
November 7, 2019 1 Comment
You are greatly loved!
“A man greatly loved by God.” Daniel 10:11
Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah! has your unbelief made you forget that you are greatly loved by God?
Must you not have been greatly loved–to have been bought with the precious blood of Christ? When God smote His only begotten Son for you–what was this but being greatly loved by Him? You lived in sin and rioted in it–must you not have been greatly loved for God to have borne so patiently with you? You were called by grace and led to the Savior, and made a child of God and an heir of Heaven! All this proves, does it not–a very great and super-abounding love for you?
Since that time, whether your path has been rough with troubles, or smooth with mercies–it has been full of proofs that you are greatly loved by God. If the Lord has chastened you–yet it was not in anger. If He has made you poor–yet you have been maderich in grace. The more unworthy you feel yourself to be–the more evidence you have that nothing but unspeakable divine love could have led the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours! The more demerit you feel–the clearer is the display of the abounding love of God, in having chosen you, and called you, and made you an heir of everlasting bliss!
Now, if there is such great love from God to us–let us live in the influence and sweetness of it, and use the privilege of our exalted position as God’s redeemed children. Do not let us approach our Lord as though we were strangers, or as though He were unwilling to hear us–for we are greatly cherished by our compassionate Father!
“He who spared not His own Son–but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Come boldly, O believer, for despite the whisperings of Satan and the doubtings of your own heart–you are greatly loved! Meditate on the exceeding vastness and faithfulness of Christ’s matchless love to you!
“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully!” Ephesians 3:19
October 27, 2019 0 Comments
In love He blessed us with all spiritual blessings!
(James Smith, “The Evening Sacrifice; Or, A Help to Devotion” 1859)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3
God’s love to us is infinite. He considers nothing too good or too great to confer upon His redeemed children. Having chosen us in His Son, that we may be holy and blameless before Him–in love He blessed us with all spiritual blessings. He gave us . . .
grace in Jesus,
grace before the foundation of the world,
grace for all time,
grace for all trials,
grace to be given to us as our circumstances may require.
In going to the throne of grace, therefore–we simply go to receive what our heavenly Father has stored up in Jesus for us. What sweet encouragement is this! Well may the apostle say, “Therefore let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Blessed Lord, we thank You, we praise You, we bless Your glorious name–that You have chosen us and put us into Christ, made provision for us in Christ, and will make us perfectly holy through Christ. Teach us to come with boldness and confidence to Your throne, that we may obtain for our use, all that You have treasured up for us in Jesus. O give us . . .
more faith in Christ,
more humility when at your throne,
more zeal for Your glory when in the world,
more love to You and Your people; and
teach us to eat, drink, dress, and do everything to Your glory!
O to be thoroughly Christ-like! O to reflect the glory of God on all around us! O to live and act as on the confines of eternity, as if always impressed with this fact, “I shall soon be in Heaven!” Gracious Savior, raise me above this world, fix my affections on Yourself, fill me with Your Spirit, and enable me to lie down tonight with the assurance that all spiritual blessings are mine!
October 10, 2019 0 Comments
The panacea for all the ills of life!
(James Smith, “The Spirit’s Work in the Believer” 1861)
“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6
Spirituality flows from the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit in the soul, who . . .
kindles spiritual love,
awakens spiritual desires, and
produces spiritual devotion.
The Spirit’s work in the believer consists:
1. In convincing us of sin, when we go astray from the right ways of the Lord.
2. In working repentance within us, and leading us to confess and mourn over our sins before God.
3. In opening up, and applying the Word of God, so that it . . .
meets our case,
feeds our faith,
fires our love, and
deepens our humility.
4. In exciting and drawing forth the soul in prayer, praise, and adoration at the throne of God–so that we sometimes . . .
melt in contrition,
are crumbled down in humiliation,
and are almost dissolved in love.
5. In giving us soul-refreshing glimpses . . .
of the glorious person of Jesus,
of the everlasting covenant,
and of eternal glory.
6. In melting us down in sincere gratitude before God, under a sense of His undeserved favor.
7. In removing all legal fears, and causing holy peace to flow through the soul like a river.
8. In melting us in meekness, and producing sweet submission to the sovereign will of God.
9. In sweetly soothing and consoling under trials and bereavements; and enabling us to look heavenward with hope and joy.
10. In giving us sweet intimations of the love of God to us, by holy discoveries of His grace.
11. In witnessing to our adoption, awakening the cry of “Abba, Father!” in our hearts, and enabling us to claim a filial relationship to God.
12. In drawing forth our souls in love to God–under an overcoming sense of His free and unparalleled love to us.
13. In enabling us to mount upward as on the wings of an eagle, and to run with pleasure and delight in God’s holy ways.
15. In quickening us to rejoice in the Lord, when all things around are calculated to fill us with despondency and gloom.
16. In producing perseverance in our souls, and enabling us to look away from the things which are seen and temporal–and to look to unseen and eternal realities.
The Spirit works within the Christian, teaching him daily to make use of Christ as the panacea for all the ills of life!
In all these things, and many more–the work of the Spirit in the experience of the believer appears.
Reader, do you know anything of these things in your own experience?
Is the Spirit daily working in your heart, and do you pay attention to . . .
the lessons He teaches,
the impressions He makes, and
the direction in which He points?
O for more of the Spirit’s work within us–that we may live to the praise and glory of Him who loved us, and died to redeem us from sin, death and Hell!
Holy Spirit, work in us more and more–teaching us Your truth, and conforming us to Christ! O for more of Your power, love, and holiness!
September 23, 2019 0 Comments
Why do we love Jesus?
“We love Him, because He first loved us!” 1 John 4:19
We love Him, because He “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own!” Titus 2:14
We love Him, because we have life through His death, and forgiveness through His blood.
We love Him, because “though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, so that we through His poverty might become rich!” 2 Corinthians 8:9
We love Him, because of the excellency of His person. We are filled with . . .
a sense of His beauty,
an admiration of His charms,
a consciousness of His infinite perfections!
We love Him, because His greatness, goodness, and loveliness, in one resplendent ray–combine to enchant our soul until it is so ravished that it exclaims, “Yes, He is altogether lovely!”
We love Him, because His love binds our hearts with chains more soft than silk, and yet stronger than iron!
“To you who believe, He is precious!” 1 Peter 2:7
August 23, 2019 0 Comments
Christian, think about this!
(Richard Baxter)
“Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us!” Ephesians 5:2
Is it a small thing in your eyes to be loved by God–to be the son, the spouse, the beloved, the delight of the King of glory?
Christian, think about this! You will be eternally embraced in the arms of the love which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting–of the love which brought the Son of God’s love . . .
from Heaven to earth,
from earth to the cross,
from the cross to the grave,
from the grave to glory–
that love which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, pierced–which fasted, prayed, healed, wept, sweated, bled, died. That love will eternally embrace you!
“May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is! May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully!” Ephesians 3:18-19
August 22, 2019 0 Comments
“Drunkenness is the devil’s back door to Hell and everything that is hellish. For he who once gives away his brains to drink is ready to be caught by Satan for anything!”
Charles Spurgeon
July 18, 2019 0 Comments
III. Let me show, thirdly–where the love of the Bible comes from.
Love, such as I have described, is certainly not natural to man. Naturally, we are all more or less selfish, envious, ill-tempered, spiteful, ill-natured, and unkind! We have only to observe children, when left to themselves, to see the proof of this. Let boys and girls grow up without proper training and education–and you will not see one of them possessing Christian love! Mark how some of them think first of themselves, and their own comfort and advantage! Mark how others are full of pride, passion, and evil tempers! How can we account for it? There is but one reply. The natural heart knows nothing of true love.
Christian love will never be found except in a heart prepared by the Holy Spirit. It is a tender plant, and will never grow except in one soil. You may as well expect grapes on thorns, or figs on thistles–as look for love when the heart is not right.
The heart in which love grows, is a heart changed, renewed, and transformed by the Holy Spirit. The image and likeness of God, which Adam lost at the fall, has been restored to it, however feeble and imperfect the restoration may appear. It is a “partaker of the Divine nature,” by union with Christ and sonship to God; and one of the first features of that nature is love. (2 Peter I. 4.)
Such a heart is deeply convinced of sin–hates it, flees from it, and fights with it from day to day. And one of the prime motions of sin which it daily labors to overcome, is selfishness and lack of love.
Such a heart is deeply sensible of its mighty debt to our Lord Jesus Christ. It feels continually that it owes to Him who died for us on the cross, all its present comfort, hope, and peace. How can it show forth its gratitude? What can it render to its Redeemer? If it can do nothing else, it strives to be like Him, to drink into His spirit, to walk in His footsteps, and, like Him–to be full of love. “The love of Christ shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit” is the surest fountain of Christian love. Love will produce love.
I ask my reader’s special attention to this point. It is one of great importance in the present day. There are many who profess to admire love–while they care nothing about vital Christianity. They like some of the fruits and results of the Gospel–but not the root from which these fruits alone can grow, or the doctrines with which they are inseparably connected.
Hundreds will praise love–who hate to be told of man’s corruption, of the blood of Christ, and of the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Many a parent would like his children to grow up unselfish and good tempered–who would not be much pleased if conversion, and repentance, and faith, were pressed home on their attention.
Now I desire to protest against this notion, that you can have the fruits of Christianity, without the roots–that you can produce Christian tempers, without teaching Christian doctrines–that you can have love which will wear and endure, without grace in the heart.
I grant, most freely, that every now and then one sees a person who seems very charitable and amiable, without any distinctive Christian religion. But such cases are so rare and remarkable, that, like exceptions–they only prove the truth of the general rule. And often, too often, it may be feared in such cases the love is only apparent, and in private it completely fails. I firmly believe, as a general rule, you will not find such love as the Bible describes, except in the soil of a heart thoroughly imbued with Bible religion. Holy practice will not flourish without sound doctrine. What God has joined together, it is useless to expect to have separate.
The delusion which I am trying to combat, is helped forward to a most mischievous degree by the vast majority of novels, romances, and tales of fiction. Who does not know that the heroes and heroines of these works are constantly described as patterns of perfection? They are always doing the right thing, saying the right thing, and showing the right temper! They are always kind, and amiable, and unselfish, and forgiving! And yet you never hear a word about their religion! In short, to judge by the generality of works of fiction, it is possible to have . . .
excellent practical religion–without doctrine,
the fruits of the Spirit–without the grace of the Spirit,
and the mind of Christ–without union with Christ!
Here, in short, is the great danger of reading most novels, romances, and works of fiction. The greater part of them give a false or incorrect view of human nature. They paint their model men and women as they ought to be, and not as they really are. The readers of such writings get their minds filled with wrong conceptions of what the world is. Their notions of mankind become visionary and unreal. They are constantly looking for men and women such as they never meet–and expecting what they never find.
Let me entreat my readers, once for all, to draw their ideas of human nature from the Bible, and not from novels. Settle it down in your mind, that there cannot be true love without a heart renewed by grace. A certain degree of kindness, courtesy, amiability, good nature–may undoubtedly be seen in many who have no vital religion. But the glorious plant of Bible love, in all its fullness and perfection, will never be found without union with Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Teach this to your children, if you have any. Hold it up in schools, if you are connected with any. Lift up love. Make much of love. Give place to none in exalting the grace of kindness, love, good nature, unselfishness, good temper.
But never, never forget, that there is but one school in which these things can be thoroughly learned–and that is the school of Christ. Real love comes down from above. True love is the fruit of the Spirit. He who would have it–must sit at Christ’s feet, and learn of Him.
June 4, 2019 0 Comments
One blessing after another!
“From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another!“ John 1:16
Our Lord Jesus is ever giving–and does not for a solitary instant withdraw His hand.
As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim–the oil shall not be stopped.
He is a sun ever-shining.
He is manna always falling round the camp.
He is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from His smitten side.
The rain of His grace is always dropping.
The river of His bounty is ever-flowing.
The well-spring of His love is constantly overflowing.
As our King can never die–so His grace can never fail.
Daily we pluck His fruit, and daily His branches bend down to our hand with a fresh store of mercy.
Who has ever returned from His door, unblessed?
Who has ever risen from His table, unsatisfied?
Who has ever come from His bosom, un-imparadised?
His mercies are new every morning–and fresh every evening.
Who can know the number of His benefits, or recount His infinite bounties?
Every sand which drops from the glass of time–is but the tardy follower of a myriad of mercies. The wings of our hours are covered with the silver of His kindness, and with the yellow gold of His affection. The river of time bears from the mountains of eternity–the golden sands of His favor.
Who can count the dust of the benefits which He bestows on His redeemed people, or number of His mercies towards us? How shall my soul extol Him–who daily loads us with benefits, and who crowns us with loving-kindness?
O that my praise could be as ceaseless as His bounty! O miserable tongue, how can you be silent?
“Praise the Lord, O my soul! Do not forget all of His benefits!” Psalm 103:2
May 23, 2019 0 Comments
A holy man!
(J.C. Ryle)
Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of . . .
agreeing with God’s judgment,
hating what He hates,
loving what He loves, and
measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word.
A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He will not only live a life of faith in Him and draw from Him all his daily peace and strength, but he will also labor to have the mind that was in Him and to be conformed to His image!
May 21, 2019 0 Comments
It opens the eye of the mind!
(Joseph Alleine, “An Alarm to the Unconverted” 1671)
Conversion is a deep work, a heart work.
It makes a new man in a new world!
It extends to the whole man–to the mind, to the affections, to the motions of the whole life.
Conversion turns the balance of the judgment, so that God and His glory outweigh all carnal and worldly interests.
It opens the eye of the mind, and makes the scales of its native ignorance fall off, and turns men from darkness to light.
The man who before saw no danger in his condition, now concludes himself lost and forever undone–except renewed by divine grace.
He who formerly thought there was little hurt in sin, now comes to see it to be the chief of evils! He sees the stupidity, the deformity and the filthiness of sin; so that he is affrighted by it, loathes it, dreads it, flees from it, and even abhors himself for it! Romans 7:15; Job 42:6; Ezekiel 36:31
He who could see little sin in himself, and could find no matter for confession–now sees the rottenness of his heart and the desperate and deep pollution of his whole nature. He cries, “Unclean! Unclean! Lord, purge me with hyssop, wash me thoroughly, create in me a clean heart!” He sees himself altogether filthy, corrupt in both root and branch. He writes ‘unclean’ upon all his supposed virtues and good works. He discovers the filthy corners that he was never aware of, and sees the blasphemy, and murder, and adultery that is in his heart, of which before he was ignorant.
His hatred boils and his anger burns against sin. He has no patience with himself; he calls himself ‘fool’ and ‘beast’; and thinks any name too good for himself, when his indignation is stirred up against sin. He could once wallow in it with much pleasure; now he loathes the thought of returning to it as much as of licking up the filthiest vomit!
Hitherto he saw no form nor loveliness in Christ, no beauty that he should desire Him; but now he finds that Jesus is the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of great price for which he is willing to sell all to obtain.
May 16, 2019 0 Comments
Let us beware of the love of money!
(J.C. Ryle)
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!” Mark 10:25
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:10
Let us beware of the love of money! It is possible to use money well, and do good with it. But for each one who makes a right use of money, there are thousands who make a wrong use of it, and do harm both to themselves and others.
Let the worldly man, if he will, make an idol of money, and count him happiest who has most of it.
But let the Christian, who professes to have “treasure in Heaven,” set his face like a flint against the spirit of the world in this matter. Let him not worship gold. He is not the best man in God’s eyes who has most money, but he who has most grace and likeness to Jesus.
“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” Proverbs 30:8
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
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