Be STILL And Know That He Is GOD

2Ki 3:17  For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.  

2Ki 3:18  And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.

To human reason, what God was promising seemed simply
impossible, but nothing is too difficult for Him. Without any
sound or sign and from sources invisible and seemingly impossible, the water flowed the entire night, and “the next morning. . . there it was! And the land was filled with water. The sun was shining on the water. . . . [And it] looked red—like
blood” (vv. 20, 22). 

Our unbelief is always desiring some outward sign, and the faith of many people is largely based on sensationalism.They are not convinced of the genuineness of God’s promises without some visible manifestation. 

But the greatest triumph of a person’s faith is to “be still, and know that [He is] God” (Ps. 46:10).
 
The greatest victory of faith is to stand at the shore of the
impassable Red Sea and to hear the Master say, “Stand firm and
you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today”
(Ex. 14:13)

And “Move on” (Ex. 14:15). As we step out in faith, without any sign or sound, taking our first steps into the water, we will see the water divide. Continuing to march ahead,we will see a pathway open through the very midst of the sea.
 
Whenever I have seen God’s wondrous work in the case of some miraculous healing or some extraordinary deliverance by His providence, the thing that has always impressed me most was the absolute quietness in which it was done.

I have also been impressed by the absence of anything sensational and dramatic, and the utter sense of my own uselessness as I stood in the presence of this mighty God, realizing how easy all this was for Him to do without even the faintest effort on His part, or the slightest help from me.
 
It is the role of faith not to question but to simply obey. In the above story from Scripture, the people were asked to “make
this valley full of ditches” (2 Kings 3:16).The people obeyed,
and then water came pouring in from some supernatural source
to fill them.What a lesson for our faith!
 
Are you desiring some spiritual blessing? Then dig the ditches
and God will fill them. But He will do this in the most unexpected places and in the most unexpected ways.

May the Lord grant us the kind of faith that acts “by faith,not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7),and may we expect Him to work although we see no wind or rain.

~A. B. Simpson~

Look We For Another?

Do We Seek A Perfect Man? Christ Is The Only Man Worthy Of Our Worship. 

Do We Seek A Friend? Christ Is The True And Faithful And The Unchangeable Friend-The Perfect Teacher~The Perfect Leader!

On Every Line Where We Want The Perfect He Stands To Fill That Need. 

Then Why "Look For Another?"

End The Search For Happiness Here And Now. 

The Living Water The Stream That Never Dries Is Within Our Reach.

And You Will Say "I Need Not Go Abroad For Joy, I Have A Feast At Home, My Sighs Are Turned Into Songs, The Comforter Has Come."

~Margaret Bottome~

Do Not Take Revenge

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

There are times when doing nothing demands much greater strength than taking action.

Maintaining composure is often the best evidence of power. Even to the vilest and deadliest of charges

Jesus responded with deep, unbroken silence. His silence
was so profound, it caused His accusers and spectators to wonder in awe. 

To the greatest insults, the most violent treatment, and to mockery that would bring righteous indignation to the feeblest of hearts, He responded with voiceless, confident calmness.
 
Those who are unjustly accused, and mistreated without cause, know the tremendous strength that is necessary to keep silent and to leave revenge to God.
 
Men may misjudge your aim, Think they have cause to blame, Say, you are wrong 

Keep on your quiet way, Christ is the Judge, not they, Fear not, be strong.
 
The apostle Paul said,“None of these things move me” (Acts 20:24 KJV). He did not say,“None of these things hurt me.” 

It is one thing to be hurt, and quite another to be moved. 

Paul had a very tender heart, for we do not read of any other apostle who cried as he did.

It takes a strong man to cry.“Jesus wept” (John 11:35), and He was the strongest man that ever lived.
 
Therefore it does not say, “None of these things hurt me.”
 
The apostle Paul had determined not to move from what he believed was right. 

He did not value things as we are prone to do. He never looked for the easy way, and placed no value on his mortal life.

He only cared about one thing, and that was his loyalty to Christ—to gain Christ’s smile. 

To Paul, more than to any other man, doing Christ’s work was his earthly pay, but gaining Christ’s smile was heaven.

~Margaret Bottome~

Suffering Love

We look now at Smyrna, and see that a great suffering has come upon the church there, a period of intense suffering in which it will be necessary to be faithful unto death; and so the Lord, in the inclusiveness of first love, would say, and does say, as I see it here, that first love is suffering love.

It is indicated by what you will go through for the Lord's sake and out of love for the Lord, what you will endure, what you will put up with. 

No, not just to what part of the world you will go to minister to the heathen and lay down your life for your Lord, but what you will put up with at home, what you will put up with in other Christians, what you will put up with of daily martyrdom in love for your Lord without a revengeful spirit, without wanting to see those who cause your suffering and affliction made to suffer themselves for it.

Suffering love, that is first love.

Are you having to suffer, and suffer wrongfully? 

Peter says, "If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable ("grace") with God"

(1 Peter 2:20).

As we have said, grace is only another name for love. 

Suffering love - that is first love.

I could illustrate that. You have no need that it should be done, but you know quite well that in a first wholehearted devotion to any object you are prepared to go through anything for that object.

It does not matter what people say, the love is stronger than all hindrances. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

I Am Not Alone My Father Is With Me

 I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 
(John 16:32)
 
It is certainly unnecessary to say that turning conviction into
action requires great sacrifice. It may mean renouncing or separating ourselves from specific people or things, leaving us with a strange sense of deprivation and loneliness.

Therefore the person who will ultimately soar like an eagle to the heights of the cloudless day and live in the sunshine of God must be content to live a relatively lonely life.
 
There are no birds that live in as much solitude as eagles, for they never fly in flocks. Rarely can even two eagles be seen together.

And a life that is dedicated to God knows divine fellowship, no matter how many human friendships have had to be forfeited along the way.
 
God seeks “eagle people,” for no one ever comes into the full
realization of the best things of God in his spiritual life without
learning to walk alone with Him.

We see Abraham alone “in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities . . .near Sodom” (Gen. 13:12). 

Moses, although educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, had to spend forty years alone with God in the desert.

And Paul, who was filled with all the knowledge of the Greeks and who sat “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3 KJV),was required, after meeting Jesus, to go “immediately into Arabia” (Gal. 1:17) to learn of the desert life with God.
 
May we allow God to isolate us, but I do not mean the isolation
of a monastery.

It is in the experience of isolation that the Lord develops an independence of life and of faith so that the soul no longer depends on the continual help, prayers, faith,and care of others.

The assistance and inspiration from others are necessary, and they have a place in a Christian’s development, but at times they can actually become a hindrance to a person’s faith and welfare. 

God knows how to change our circumstances in order to isolate us.

And once we yield to Him and He takes us through an experience of isolation, we are no longer dependent upon those around us, although we still love them as much as before.
 
Then we realize that He has done a new work within us and that the wings of our soul have learned to soar in loftier air.
 
We must dare to be alone, in the way that Jacob had to be alone for the Angel of God to whisper in his ear,“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel” (Gen. 32:28); in the way that Daniel had to be left alone to see heavenly visions; and in the way that John had to be banished to the Isle of Patmos to receive and record “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him” (Rev. 1:1).
 
He has “trodden the winepress alone” (Isa. 63:3) for us. 

Therefore, are we prepared for a time of “glorious isolation” rather than to fail Him?

"The Wiles Of The Devil"

If we had time to note all the secretive things of which the Word of God tells us concerning the earthly Jerusalem, we should find that it was the purposes of God that were so often  threatened by those secretive elements.

Think, by way of illustration, of Nehemiah's day, when the wall was being built, and how the enemy got one of his own representatives hidden right in the temple itself, and so sought to compromise everything, to weaken the whole work and position, by having a representative occupying a chamber in the temple itself.

Then in Ezra's time the adversary said: We serve the same God as you do, let us come and work alongside of you! Subtle!

But thank God the man of God was a man of such transparency himself that he could see through things, and he was not deceived.

He saw quite clearly that in these people there was darkness.

Their condition was not one of clearness, nor of light.

There was duplicity, and he shut them out; and immediately he did that they showed quite well where they were.

In these and numerous other ways you can mark the enemy trying all the time to get that which was not suitable to God right into the heart of things, in order to destroy the effectiveness, the positiveness of testimony, and Jerusalem's history is a long history of these subtle elements working in the midst. 

We come to the day of our Lord Himself. What a mass of this sort of thing he encountered in Jerusalem! They tried to catch Him in His words.

They were all the time laying traps for Him. 

They were working furtively, secretively, by deceptions, by snares, trying to take Him.

The whole situation, the whole condition of Jerusalem was like that in His day, and clearness, transparency, was destroyed.

Yet the temple worship was going on. 

Outwardly the whole of the religious system was proceeding as it had been wont to do, yet here was this dark interior. God forsakes it, because of the lie.

The Lord put His finger upon that so often in very straight and terse language. "You make clean the outside of the platter..."! "Whited sepulchres"! What a picture! 

See them going round with their whitewash, making white their sepulchers; and within, He says, they are "full of dead men's bones."

They were making the thing to appear something other than it was. Such is the lie, which is the Devil's work, leading to rejection. 

The Lord's desire toward us is that we should know that state of light, of clearness, of which we have spoken.

The next thing is love. What is the character of New Testament love? Love unfeigned! What a word! 

Fancy using that word to Christians - love unfeigned! Does that mean that some would love feignedly, feign to love, pretend to love, while really they do not love at all?

That which the Lord seeks in every virtue, in every element, is something that is true.

That is what we mean by light in the sense of clearness. It is the purity and inwardness of things. 

Truth may be in word, in doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding truth in heart, truth in life.

Light may be a matter of doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding state of light in the heart. 

The enemy will not object to us having plenty of the former kind of light and truth, but, if he can, he will seek to destroy its real value by introducing a lie over against it, a contradiction.

This may sound rather strong. Well, it is strong! 

It must be strong! It has not been put in this way to lay charges against anyone, but by way of warning.

It will perhaps explain some things, but we must take it to our hearts as a word of exhortation or admonition. 

Remember that God never builds in the dark; that is, there can be no constructiveness where there is not light.

Before ever God would bring this world back into order and fruitfulness He said: "Let there be light." God is out for the manifestation of the truth.

God's works are never darkness, and we can never know constructiveness and progress unless there is absolute light.

You know quite well that you cannot go on with people who are not straight, people who are crooked, people who are all the time furtive, not open, not frank, who have somewhere in the background a secretiveness.

You have to say, I cannot go on with that one. 

God is like that. He would say to any one of us who might be there, I cannot go on with you until you are absolutely out in the open, until you have come to a place where you are going to be perfectly honest.

Reality is God's demand for any kind of work that He will do.

There may be many weaknesses, many imperfections, but if there is genuineness, reality, openness before God, where the spirit is clear and pure, God can go on with His work. 

But immediately we begin to lock something up inside, hold something back, cease to be perfectly open before God, the work stops. 

Light in the sense of clearness is an essential for the building of the city of God, because the ultimate purpose for that city is to shine forth with that glory of God in character.

With Him there is no variableness, neither shadow cast by turning.

That means that God can be relied upon.

The Lord make us like that.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Clearness of Life and Testimony

 

 Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  

In speaking of the light of the Lord's heavenly people we are touching again a very solemn, and serious, and important feature, something which has a tremendous history associated with it.

The entire history of the Lord's people, and of the spiritual life, is one of light and darkness, of truth and falsehood, of purity and adulteration or mixture, of clearness and cloudiness, of openness and secretiveness....

Truth may be in word, in doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding truth in heart, truth in life.

Light may be a matter of doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding state of light in the heart. 

The enemy will not object to us having plenty of the former kind of light and truth, but, if he can, he will seek to destroy its real value by introducing a lie over against it, a contradiction.... 

Remember that God never builds in the dark; that is, there can be no constructiveness where there is not light.

Before ever God would bring this world back into order and fruitfulness He said: "Let there be light." 

God is out for the manifestation of the truth. 

God's works are never darkness, and we can never know constructiveness and progress unless there is absolute light. 

You know quite well that you cannot go on with people who are not straight, people who are crooked, people who are all the time furtive, not open, not frank, who have somewhere in the background a secretiveness. 

You have to say, "I cannot go on with that one. 

God is like that. He would say to any one of us who might be there, "I cannot go on with you until you are absolutely out in the open, until you have come to a place where you are going to be perfectly honest ."

Reality is God's demand for any kind of work that He will do. 

There may be many weaknesses, many imperfections, but if there is genuineness, reality, and openness before God, where the spirit is clear and pure, God can go on with His work. 

But immediately we begin to lock something up inside, hold something back, cease to be perfectly open before God, the work stops.

Light in the sense of clearness is an essential for the building of the city of God, because the ultimate purpose for that city is to shine forth with that glory of God in character. 

With Him there is no variableness, neither shadow cast by turning. 

That means that God can be relied upon. The Lord make us like that.

~T. Austin Sparks~ 

Lay Your Burdens Down And Rest

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 

That rest includes victory: “The Lord gave them rest on every side. . . .The Lord handed all their enemies over to them” (Josh. 21:44).

Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57).
 
A prominent believer once told of his mother, who was a very anxious and troubled Christian. 

He would often talk with her for hours, trying to convince her of the sinfulness of worrying, but to no avail.

She was like the elderly woman who once said that she had suffered a great deal, especially from the troubles that never came.

Then one morning his mother came to breakfast with a smile adorning her face. He asked her what had happened, and she began describing a dream she had in the night.

In her dream, she was walking along a highway with a large crowd of people, all of whom seemed very tired and burdened.
                                     
The people were all carrying little black bundles, and she noticed that more bundles were being dropped along the way by numerous repulsive- looking creatures that seemed quite demonic in nature. 

As the bundles were dropped, the people stooped down to pick them up and carry them.
 
Like everyone else in her dream, she also carried her needless load, being weighted down with the Devil’s bundles.

After a while, she looked up and saw a Man whose face was loving and bright as He moved through the crowd, comforting the people. 

Finally He came to her, and she realized it was her Savior.

She looked at Him, telling Him how tired she was, and He smiled sadly and said,“My dear child, these bundles you carry are not from me, and you have no need of them.

They are the Devil’s burdens, and they are wearing out your life.

You need to drop them and simply refuse to touch them with even one of your fingers.

Then you will find your path easy, and you will
feel as if  I carried you on eagles wings
[Ex. 19:4].
 
The Savior touched her hand, and peace and joy quickly filled her soul.

As she saw herself in her dream casting her
burdens to the ground and ready to throw herself at His feet in joyful thanksgiving, she suddenly awoke, finding that all her worries were gone.
 
From that day forward to the end of her life,she was the most cheerful and happy member of her family.
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And the night will be filled with music, And the cares that besiege the day, Will fold their tents like the Arabs, And will silently steal away.
 
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

The Spirit Of Lawlessness

 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work (2 Thess 2:7).

The Greek word Paul uses for iniquity in this passage means,
literally, "lawlessness." Therefore, the mystery is one of lawlessness, meaning that multitudes are going to act without law or restraint.

Yet, this lawlessness is not simply a rebellion against the rule of
man. It is not about rebelling against civil authority or committing robbery, rape or murder. These things do provoke God's wrath, but the mystery of lawlessness goes much deeper. It is an outright rejection of the truth that is in Christ, a casting aside of God's Holy Word and rebellion against the restraints of Scripture!

This spirit of lawlessness is rampant in our nation today. It is the
force behind the legislation that seeks to banish God from our
society and the same spirit that Satan used to deceive Eve when
he told her, in so many words, "God is easy; He won´t punish you for disobeying. You can eat the fruit and indulge your lust and you won´t have to pay for it!"

Today Satan is using this same lie to convince masses of believers that they can indulge their sins without paying any penalty. It is a demonic scheme to pervert Christ´s gospel of grace and turn it into a message of licentiousness. Tragically, many lukewarm Christians are succumbing to this spirit of lawlessness.

Paul says the Antichrist will rise to power because people will be blinded and deceived by their own sin: "After the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivable-ness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).

Satan will deceive masses of people by convincing them of a subtle but powerful lie, just as he convinced Eve: "God doesn't punish sin!"

Paul says this deception will come "with all deceivableness . . .
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved" (verse 10). He then adds, "For this [reason] God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie"

(verse 11).
 
The apostle is saying, "Those who refuse to obey or respect God's Word will fall under a powerful delusion. At first they will wink at their sin and justify it. But soon they will actively seek out a message of easy grace. They will invent a grace that is far beyond what God intended. His grace never leads to license-it always leads to repentance."

~David Wilkerson~

Handed Over To Death Daily

The godly apostle Paul was full of the Holy Spirit and revelation knowledge. He prayed fervently and walked daily in intimate communion with Jesus. Yet he admitted he was continually buffeted, defamed, despised and reviled. He was gossiped about, his character was attacked, and his name was reproached.

Paul suffered so much so often, even his spiritual children wondered why he constantly faced trouble and persecution. Every time they saw him, his face was bruised, his bones were broken, or his body was covered with marks. Of course, this hurt Paul deeply. 

Here was a powerful, sincere preacher of God's grace and deliverance and everywhere he turned, he was reviled and defamed.

The apostle said he had one friend left, Onesiphorus, who “was not ashamed of my chain [bonds]” (2 Timothy 1:16). Paul said of his friend, “This man is not ashamed of my imprisonment. He knows better than to think there's some hidden sin in my life!”

Paul also said he was encouraged by a group of believers who had compassion of me in my bonds (Hebrews 10:34). He was saying, “These people feel what I'm feeling.” 

They stood by Paul in his trials because they themselves had
been “made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions . . . whilst ye became companions of them that were so used” (verse 33).

These believers had become the apostle's “companions in afflictions” because the same thing that was happening to Paul had happened to them!

I know a deeply spiritual minister who endured years of satanic buffeting and persecution from other believers. Every time I saw him, he asked me to pray for him about his troubles. I gladly complied but over time, as his trials persisted, I grew bothered. 

Finally, I asked him point-blank: “I don't understand why you're always so harassed. You're one of the godliest pastors I know. You're intimate with the Lord, always in prayer, continually studying His Word. Why would He allow you to face such constant trouble?”

But now I understand that this godly minister was handed over to death situations daily because he was full of resurrection life. 

God wanted to use him in a mighty way so He kept handing him over to death in every area of his life.

God wanted nothing to remain that would hinder the beautiful
manifestation of Christ in him.

Satan was set on destroying Paul because he knew a great manifestation of Christ was about to shine forth in his life!

~David Wilkerson~
 

Conformity To Christ Through Common Trials

 

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Go back to the place where, for the time being, the Lord has put you, where He has called you to live your life and do your work in all the trial and difficulty and suffering of it, and do not strain to get out of it.

Do not lose the present value of it by always living mentally or hopefully in a time when you will be out of it, but go back there and recognize that if you are the Lord's, if you love God and are called according to purpose (as you are if you are in Christ), God is seeking to do something with you and in you by means of the conditions of your present situation.

You will only defeat God's end if you try to get out, and will fail to recognize and accept what He is seeking to do.

I can think of few things more regrettable and grievous than that we should look back upon any part of our life and have to say, "I might have realized some great purpose of God in that period of my life if only I had taken another attitude toward it than the one I did take.

I was chafing, impatient, all the time looking for a way of escape; I was rebellious, living in another mental world of my own creating, in which I would do and be this and that; and I missed all that God intended at that time." I say, there can be few things more grievous than that.

So we must go back to the sphere and conditions in which the Lord has placed us, with this attitude – God has a thought which relates to me as one of His Own; and that thought is, that through the conditions and sufferings of my life He should develop in me the features of His Son.

On the one hand, the features of the old creation may be seen to be more and more terrible and horrible, as I recognize them in myself; but over against that God is doing something which is other than myself, not me at all.

He is bringing into being Another, altogether other, and that is His Son. Slowly, all too slowly; nevertheless something is happening.

That sonship is not very much manifested yet, but it is going to be manifested.

What God has been doing will come out into the light eventually – conformity to the image of His Son; "that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

So we look out upon the people of God on the earth amongst whom we are included, and we have to adjust our ideas as to why we are here. 

There may be things to do, but God is far more concerned with the being than with the doing, and we have to learn all over again what service is.

~T. Austin Sparks~

NO Compromise With The Self~Principle

Now, deep down in Saul there was the self principle active; there is no doubt about it; and, although at times he seemed to rise above it and to have the Lord's interests at heart, that self principle was recurrent, and when put to the final test with Amalek in I Sam. Chapter 15, we find that it asserted itself again.

That was the turning point, where the Lord rejected Saul and finally in intention passed the kingdom from him to David.

The self-principle goes too deep for the Lord to regard it lightly. 

It is not just a matter of the person. It is there that the link with an entirely antagonistic spiritual system is found.

Amalek was such a link. Amalek had stood in the way of Israel when they came out of Egypt and were making for the land.

They had stood across their path in the attempt to frustrate the Lord's intentions of spiritual fulness for Israel, and that very people Amalek were the test case for Saul as to whether he was really wholly set upon the Lord or whether he had personal interests.

When, through Samuel, the Lord commanded Saul to destroy every vestige of Amalek, leaving nothing alive, Saul reserved the best of the herd and the flock.

He discriminated according to human judgment, to keep something that he fancied, that he thought was good.

He set his own judgment over against the judgment of the Lord because of this self-principle that was in him, thus proving that in principle he was one with Amalek, that is, he was not set upon all that the Lord was after.

The Lord was seeking to bring Israel into the land, that is, to spiritual fulness. 

Amalek said 'No'. Saul and Amalek found themselves one in principle. He spared them. 

But see what Samuel does to Agag, king of the Amalekites! - he hews him in pieces before the Lord. There is NO COMPROMISE there. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Truth Learned In Affliction

Most of the grand truths of God have to be learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them. 

No man is competent to judge in matters of the kingdom, until first he has been tried; since there are many things to be learned in the depths which we can never know in the heights.

We discover many secrets in the caverns of the ocean, which, though we had soared to heaven, we never could have known. 

He shall best meet the wants of God’s people as a preacher who has had those wants himself; he shall best comfort God’s Israel who has needed comfort; and he shall best preach salvation who has felt his own need of it.”

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Greatest Deception

                                                                                

The greatest deception in the modern church is the matter of using God's Word to put a badge of approval on covetousness. 

On the surface, the Jezebel doctrine works see 1 Kings 21:14-16 It got Ahab what he wanted. He possessed his rights because when a man was stoned for high treason against the king, all his possessions reverted to the king.

Naboth the Jezreelite had told Ahab that he would not give him the inheritance of his fathers because the Lord forbade him to do so.

And [Ahab] laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? . . . Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite" (1 Kings 21:4-7).

Listen to the doctrine of Jezebel: "You are king, number one, and you have rights. Let nothing stop you from getting what you want." She said to Ahab, "Be happy! I'll get it for you." That is the false gospel in a nutshell. "Don't sweat it. Don't feel sad or condemned by those desires that eat you up. I'll get it for you." 

Like the deceptive methods Jezebel used, these doctrines twist and misuse Scripture.

But Ahab could not enjoy what he received because of a pesky prophet of God. "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab . . . in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.

And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? . . . In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood. 

And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord" (1 Kings 21:17-20).

Imagine Ahab walking about his new possession, saying, "Isn't life sweet? Ah, Jezebel. I may not agree with all her methods, but she certainly gets it done."
 
But dogging his every footstep was the prophet Elijah.

So it is today. God has sent prophets, crying aloud, confronting the Jezebel doctrine of materialism, making it uncomfortable for Christians to enjoy their playthings and acquisitions.

They have sold out. They cannot see it, but sin is behind all this. 

Every time I cry out against the prosperity doctrine, I sense the spirit and power of Elijah upon me.

You are going to hear more and more exposing of this Jezebel doctrine. Everywhere, prophetic voices will be heard loud and clear, crying out, "Sin! You possessed by selling out to sin."

~David Wilkerson~

The Sword Of The LORD And Of Gideon

Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he bade them, at an appointed signal, break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" 

This is precisely what all Christians must do. First, you must shine; break the pitcher which conceals your light; throw aside the bushel which has been hiding your candle, and shine.

Let your light shine before men; let your good works be such, that when men look upon you, they shall know that you have been with Jesus. 

Then there must be the sound, the blowing of the trumpet. There must be active exertions for the ingathering of sinners by proclaiming Christ crucified. 

Take the gospel to them; carry it to their door; put it in their way; do not suffer them to escape it; blow the trumpet right against their ears.

Remember that the true war-cry of the Church is Gideon's watchword, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" God must do it, it is His own work.

But we are not to be idle; instrumentality is to be used--"The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" If we only cry, "The sword of the Lord!" we shall be guilty of an idle presumption; and if we shout, "The sword of Gideon!" alone, we shall manifest idolatrous reliance on an arm of flesh: we must blend the two in practical harmony, "The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" 

We can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let us, therefore, in His name determine to go out personally and serve with our flaming torch of holy example, and with our trumpet tones of earnest declaration and testimony, and God shall be with us, and Midian shall be put to confusion, and the Lord of hosts shall reign for ever and ever. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Everything You Need

The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you John 14:26.

I experienced a particularly heavy attack of discouragement at a certain point in my life. It happened when I was as close to Jesus as at any other time.

One morning, as I was preparing a sermon, I was overcome by an intense despair. It came out of nowhere, weighing me down. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake it.
 
As I sat at my desk with my Bible open, I tried to continue working on the sermon but I couldn't get anywhere.

Suddenly I was bombarded with doubts about my ability to put together a true message from the Lord. My mind was flooded
with horrible thoughts that told me, "You don't understand Paul's writings. You haven't grasped the ‘old man’ and ‘new man’ concepts. You don't comprehend ‘dying to sin’ when sin still exists. How dare you presume to preach God's Word?"

I sat there for three hours, determined to dig out a message but nothing came. By mid-morning, all the words on the pages of my Bible seemed to run together. My mind was confused and my spirit was dull, unable to hear anything from the Lord.

I sank deeper into despair and became convinced I had nothing to give the people in our church. So I closed the Bible and left my study.

As I walked around the house, my discouragement only grew. I tried to figure out why it had come upon me in the first place, but I didn't have a clue.

Finally, I went into my prayer room and sat on the floor. I couldn't even muster up a word to say to the Lord. Instead, I cried out to Him from my spirit: “Lord, I don't know what to do. I feel so down I can't even reach out to You, yet I know I've never loved You more than right now. Please help me."

When the devil comes with his spirit of discouragement, he bombards you with one lie after another. By the time he's finished, you're crying, "Oh, God, I'll never make it!"

This is just what the devil did to me. While in prayer, I endured his bombardment of hellish lies for about half an hour. Then God's still, small voice broke through to my spirit with these loving and compassionate words: "David, you're greatly loved. Don't worry, My hand is upon you. You are under severe attack, but do not fear. You don't need any strength of your own for this battle—I have everything you need!"


~David Wilkerson~
 

I Will Make You A New Sharp Threshing Instrument

Isa 41:15  Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, a bar of steel was worth about $5.Yet when forged into horseshoes, it was worth
$10; when made into needles, its value was $350; when used
to make small pocketknife blades, its worth was $32,000; when
made into springs for watches, its value increased to $250,000.
 
What a pounding the steel bar had to endure to be worth this much! 

But the more it was shaped,hammered, put through fire, beaten, pounded, and polished, the greater its value.
 
May we use this analogy as a reminder to be still, silent, and long-suffering, for it is those who suffer the most who yield the most.

And it is through pain that God gets the most out of
us, for His glory and for the blessing of others.  

~Selected~
 
Oh, give Your servant patience to be still, And bear Your will;
Courage to venture wholly on Your arm That will not harm;
The wisdom that will never let me stray Out of my way;
The love that, now afflicting, yet knows best When I should rest.
 
Our life is very mysterious. In fact, it would be totally unexplainable unless we believed that God was preparing us for events and ministries that lie unseen beyond the veil of the eternal world—where spirits like tempered steel will be required for special service.
 
The sharper the Craftsman’s knives, the finer and more beautiful His work.

We Have A House Not Made With Hands

2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

The owner of the house I have lived in for many years has notified me that he will do little or nothing to keep it in repair.

He also advised me to be ready to move. 

At first this was not very welcome news. In many respects the surrounding area is quite pleasant, and if not for the evidence of a somewhat declining condition, the house seems rather nice.

Yet a closer look reveals that even a light wind causes it to shake and sway, and its foundation is not sufficient to make it secure.Therefore I am getting ready to move.
 
As I consider the move, it is strange how quickly my interest is transferred to my prospective new home in another country.

I have been consulting maps and studying accounts of its inhabitants. 

And someone who has come from there to visit has told me that it is beautiful beyond description and that language is inadequate to fully describe what he heard while there.

He said that in order to make an investment there, he has suffered the loss of everything he owned here, yet rejoices in what others would call a sacrifice.

Another person, whose love for me has been proved by the greatest possible test, now lives there.

He has sent me several clusters of the most delicious grapes I have ever eaten, and after tasting them everything here tastes very bland.
 
Several times I have gone to the edge of the river that forms the boundary between here and there and have longed to be with those singing praises to the King on the other side.

Many of my friends have moved across that river, but before leaving here they spoke of my following them later.

I have seen the smile on their faces as they passed from my sight.

So each time I am asked to make some new investment here, I now respond, “I am getting ready to move.”

~Selected~
 
The words of Jesus during His last days on earth vividly express His desire to go “back to the Father” (John 16:28).

We, as His people, also have a vision of something far beyond the difficulties and disappointments of this life and are traveling toward fulfillment, completion, and an enriched life.

We too are going “to the Father.”

Much of our new home is still unclear to us, but two things are certain. Our “Father’s house” John 14:2 is our home. And it is in the presence of the Lord. 

As believers, we know and understand that we are all travelers and not permanent residents of  this world.

~R.C. Gillie~
 
The little birds trust God, for they go singing
From northern woods where autumn winds have blown, With joyous faith their unmarked pathway winging To summer lands of song, afar, unknown.
 
Let us go singing, then, and not go crying: Since we are sure our times are in His hand, Why should we weep, and fear, and call it dying? It’s merely flying to a Summer Land.

Let Us Run The Race Set Before Us

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,          

Heb. 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

There are certain things that are not sins in themselves but that tend to weigh us down or become distractions and stumbling blocks to our Christian growth.

One of the worst of these is the feeling of despair or hopelessness.

A heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely drag us down in our holiness and usefulness.
 
The failure of the children of Israel to enter the Promised Land began with their complaining, or as the Word says it, “All the Israelites grumbled” (Num. 14:2). 

It may have started with a faint desire to complain and be discontent, but they allowed it to continue until it blossomed and ripened into total rebellion and ruin.
 
We should never give ourselves the freedom to doubt God or His eternal love and faithfulness toward us in everything.
 
We can be determined to set our own will against doubt just as we do against any other sin.

Then as we stand firm, refusing to doubt, the Holy Spirit will come to our aid, giving us the faith of God and crowning us with victory.
 
It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, worrying, wondering if God has forsaken us, and thinking that after all we have been through, our hopes are going to end in failure.
 
But let us refuse to be discouraged and unhappy!

Let us “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2), even when we do not feel any happiness. 

Let us rejoice by faith, by firm determination, and by simply regarding it as true, and we will find that God will make it real to us.

~Selected~
 
The Devil has two very masterful tricks.

The first is to tempt us to become discouraged, for then we are defeated and of no service to others, at least for a while.

The other is to tempt us to doubt, thereby breaking the bond of faith that unites us with the Father.

So watch out! Do not be tricked either way.

~G. E.M.~
 
I like to cultivate the spirit of happiness! It retunes my soul and keeps it so perfectly in tune that Satan is afraid to touch it.

The chords of my soul become so vibrant and full of heavenly electricity that he takes his fiendish fingers from me and goes somewhere else!

Satan is always wary of interfering with me when my heart is full of the happiness and joy of the Holy Spirit.
 
My plan is simply to shun the spirit of sadness as I would normally shun Satan, but unfortunately I am not always successful.
 
Like the Devil himself, sadness confronts me while I am on the highway of usefulness.

And it stays face to face with me until my poor soul turns blue and sad!

In fact, sadness discolors everything around me and produces a mental paralysis.

Nothing has any appeal to me, future prospects seem clouded in darkness, and my soul loses all its aspirations and power!
 
An elderly believer once said,“Cheerfulness in our faith causes any act of service to be performed with delight, and we are never moved ahead as swiftly in our spiritual calling as when we are carried on the wings of happiness.

Sadness, however, clips those wings or, using another analogy, causes the wheels to fall off our chariot of service.

Our chariot then becomes like those of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, dragging heavily on its axle and slowing our progress.

                             

A Lesson On Listening

                                                                            
God had to teach Elijah a lesson on listening so He took him to the top of Mr. Horeb and gave him an illustrated sermon.

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13).

When that wind began to howl, I think Elijah thought, “It’s about time, Lord. Blow Jezebel right off her throne and throw her and her sinner friends to the winds. Blow them all away!” But God was not in the wind!

Suddenly, there was a great earthquake and Elijah said, “That ought to scare them good. God will get even. He will shake them right out of their shoes.” But God was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake, a fire! The heavens were aglow with white-hot flames! Elijah said in his heart, “Lord, they didn’t accept the fire that fell on the altar so burn them out! Burn out wicked Ahab! Fry Jezebel. Cause your fire to consume the wicked.” But God was not in the fire!

And after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle verses 12 and 13.

Can you imagine this? A prophet who was not afraid of a hurricane or an earthquake or heavenly fireworks is frightened by a still small voice!

Elijah covered his head with his coat. Why? Had not this prophet talked to God many times? Was he not a great man of prayer? Hadn’t God used him mightily? Yes!
 
But Elijah was a stranger to the still small voice! When he finally allowed that voice to speak—alone, quiet, away from all the power displays—he got the most specific directions in all his ministry.

Go to the wilderness of Damascus; anoint Hazael king over Syria; anoint Jehu king over Israel; and anoint Elisha to be the prophet to follow you (see 1 Kings 19:15-16).

How many busy children of God today have never had the voice come to them?

They are busy witnessing—doing good—praying for a spiritual awakening—fasting.
 
So intense—so dedicated. Yet, they have heard everything but the voice of the Lord.

~David Wilkerson~

He Opened Not His Mouth

Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  

What grace it requires when we are misunderstood yet handle it correctly, or when we are judged unkindly yet receive it  in holy sweetness!

Nothing tests our character as a Christian more than having something evil said about us. 

This kind of grinding test is what exposes whether we are solid gold or simply gold-plated metal.

If we could only see the blessings that lie hidden in our trials, we would say like David, when Shimei cursed him, Let him curse. . It may be that the Lord will repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.
2 Sam. 16:11–12.
 
Some Christians are easily turned away from the greatness of their life’s calling by pursuing instead their own grievances and enemies. 

They ultimately turn their lives into one petty whirlwind of warfare. 

It reminds me of trying to deal with a hornet’s nest.You may be able to disperse the hornets, but you will probably be terribly stung and receive nothing for your pain, for even their honey has no value.
 
May God grant us more of the Spirit of Christ, who, when they hurled their insults at him, did not retaliate.

Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly 1 Peter 2:23.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart Heb. 12:3.
 
~A. B. Simpson~
 
For you He walked along the path of woe,
He was sharply struck with His head bent low.
He knew the deepest sorrow, pain, and grief,
He knew long endurance with no relief,
He took all the bitter from death’s deep cup,
He kept no blood drops but gave them all up.
Yes, for you, and for me, He won the fight
To take us to glory and realms of light.
 
~L. S. P~