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~