God Knows

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Believer! What a glorious assurance! This way of thine-this, it may be, a crooked, mysterious, tangled way-this way of trial and tears. "He knoweth it."

The furnace seven times heated...He lighted it. There is an Almighty Guide knowing and directing our footsteps, whether it be to the bitter Marah pool, or to the joy and refreshment of Elim.

That way, dark to the Egyptians, has its pillar of cloud and fire for His own Israel. 

The furnace is hot; but not only can we trust the hand that kindles it, but we have the assurance that the fires are lighted not to consume, but to refine; and that when the refining process is completed (no sooner-no later) He brings His people forth as gold.

When they think Him least near, He is often nearest. "When my spirit was overwhelmed, then thou knewest my path."

Do we know of ONE brighter than the brightest radiance of the visible sun, visiting our chamber with the first waking beam of the morning; an eye of infinite tenderness and compassion following us throughout the day, knowing the way that we take?

The world, in its cold vocabulary in the hour of adversity, speaks of Providence-the will of Providence-the strokes of Providence. PROVIDENCE! what is that?

Why dethrone a living, directing GOD from the sovereignty of His own earth? 

Why substitute an inanimate, death-like abstraction, in place of an acting, controlling, personal Jehovah?

How it would take the sting from many a goading trial, to see what Job saw (in his hour of aggravated woe, when every earthly hope lay prostrate at his feet) no hand but the Divine.

He saw that hand behind the gleaming swords of the Sabeans-he saw it behind the lightning flash-he saw it giving wings to the careening tempest-he saw it in the awful silence of his rifled home.

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!

Thus seeing GOD in everything, his faith reached its climax when this once powerful prince of the desert, seated on his bed of ashes, could say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him."

~Macduff~

The Angel Host As An Encircling Fence Of Fire

2Ki 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 

So it is with each of GOD'S saints. We cannot see, because of the imperfection of mortal vision, the harnessed squadrons of fire and light; but the Angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.

If our eyes were opened, we should see the angel hosts as an encircling fence of fire; but whether we see them or not, they are certainly there.

GOD is between us and temptation. However strong the foe, GOD is stronger.

However swift the descending blow, GOD is swifter to catch and ward off.

However weak we are, through long habits of yielding, GOD is greater than our hearts, and can keep in perfect peace.

Trust ye in the LORD forever; for in the LORD Jehovah is the Rock of Ages.

GOD is between us and the hate of man.

Dare to believe that there is an invisible wall of protection between you and all that men devise against you.

What though the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing! No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise in judgment shall be condemned.

GOD is between you and the deluge of care.

What thousands are beset with that dark spectre! They have no rest or peace either day or night, saying, "Where will the next rent, the next meal, come from? "

How different the life of birds, and flowers, of children, of Jesus, and all holy souls. Oh, rest in the LORD, and put Him between you and black care.

GOD is between you and the pursuit of your past.

He is your reward; and as He intercepted the pursuit of Pharaoh, so He stands at Calvary between your past and you.

The assayer of retribution is arrested by that Divine Victim what more can we ask!

~F. B. Meyer~

Discovering GOD'S Graces

Job 10:2  I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

Perhaps, O tried soul, the LORD is doing this to develop thy graces.

There are some of thy graces which would never have been discovered if it were not for the trials.

Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter?

Love is too oft like a glowworm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness.

Hope itself is like a star - not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. 

Afflictions are often the black folds in which GOD doth set the jewels of His children's graces, to make them shine the better.

It was but a little while ago that, on thy knees, thou wast saying, LORD, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.

Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?

For how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised?

Depend upon it.

GOD often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence.

Besides, it is not merely discovery; real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials.

GOD trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service.

He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers and climb mountains, and walk many a weary mile with heavy knapsacks on their backs.

Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which you are passing?

Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?

~C. H. Spurgeon~

To be left unmolested by Satan is no evidence of blessing.

Trust And Do; Do and Trust

Psalm 37:3  Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Trust and do are words which go well together, in the order in which the Holy Spirit has placed them.

We should have faith, and that faith should work.

Trust in GOD sets us upon holy doing: we trust GOD for good, and then we do good.

We do not sit still because we trust, but we arouse ourselves and expect the LORD to work through us and by us.

It is not ours to worry and do evil but to trust and do good.

We neither trust without doing nor do without trusting. 

Adversaries would root us out if they could; but by trusting and doing we dwell in the land.

We will not go into Egypt, but we will remain in Immanuel's land-the providence of GOD, the Canaan of covenant love.

We are not so easily to be got rid of as the LORD's enemies suppose.

They cannot thrust us Out nor stamp us out: where GOD has given us a name and a place, there we abide.

But what about the supply of our necessities?

The LORD has put a "verily" into this promise.

As sure as GOD is true, His people shall be fed.

It is theirs to trust and to do, and it is the LORD's to do according to their trust.

If not fed by ravens, or fed by an Obadiah, or fed by a widow, yet they shall be fed somehow.

Away, ye fears!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Gift Of Strength; Peace To Bless

David had just heard the voice of the LORD in a thunderstorm and had seen His power in the hurricane whose path he had described;

And now, in the cool calm after the storm, that overwhelming power by which heaven and earth are shaken is promised to be the strength of the chosen.

He who wings the unerring bolt will give to His redeemed the wings of eagles;

He who shakes the earth with His voice will terrify the enemies of His saints and give His children peace.

Why are we weak when we have divine strength to flee to?

Why are we troubled when the LORD's own peace is ours? 

Jesus, the Mighty GOD, is our strength; let us put Him on and go forth to our service.

Jesus, our blessed LORD, is also our peace; let us repose in Him this day and end our fears.

What a blessing to have Him for our strength and peace both now and forever!

That same GOD who rides upon the storm in days of tempest will also rule the hurricane of our tribulation and send us, before long, days of peace.

We shall have strength for storms and songs for fair weather. 

Let us begin to sing at once unto GOD, our strength and our peace.

Away, dark thoughts! Up, faith and hope!

~Charles Spurgeon~

True Walking Posture

Pro 10:9  He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

His walk may be slow, but it is sure. He that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent nor sure; 

But steady perseverance in integrity, if it does not bring riches, will certainly bring peace.

In doing that which is just and right, we are like one walking upon a rock, for we have confidence that every step we take is upon solid and safe ground.

On the other hand, the utmost success through questionable transactions must always be hollow and treacherous, and the man who has gained it must always be afraid that a day of reckoning will come, and then his gains will condemn him.

Let us stick to truth and righteousness. By God's grace let us imitate our LORD and Master, in whose mouth no deceit was ever found.

Let us not be afraid of being poor, nor of being treated with contempt.

Never, on any account whatever, let us do that which our conscience cannot justify.

If we lose inward peace, we lose more than a fortune can buy.

If we keep in the LORD's own way and never sin against our conscience, our way is sure against all comers.

Who is he that can harm us if we be followers of that which is good?

We may be thought fools by fools if we are firm in our integrity; but in the place where judgment is infallible we shall be approved.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Doing What GOD Can Bless

Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
 

If we obey the LORD our GOD He will bless that which He gives us.

Riches are no curse when blessed of the LORD.

When men have more than they require for their immediate need and begin to lay up in storehouses, the dry rot of covetousness or the blight of hard-heartedness is apt to follow the accumulation; but with GOD'S blessing it is not so.

Prudence arranges the saving, liberality directs the spending, gratitude maintains consecration, and praise sweetens enjoyment.

It is a great mercy to have GOD'S blessing in one's iron safe and on one's banking account.

What a favor is made ours by the last clause! "The LORD shall bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand unto."

We would not put our hand to anything upon which we dare not ask GOD'S blessing, neither would we go about it without prayer and faith.

But what a privilege to be able to look for the LORD's help in every enterprise!

Some talk of a lucky man: the blessing of the LORD is better than luck.

The patronage of the great is nothing to the favor of GOD. 

Self-reliance is all very well; but the LORD's blessing is infinitely more than all the fruit of talent, genius, or tact.

~Charles Spurgeon~

 

"I Have Prayed For Thee"

Heb 7:25  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Now our text tells us that somebody is praying for us, and the somebody is our risen Savior. That is the only meaning which our text can have, and with all its mystery we thankfully accept it.

We light on the same truth again in the song of triumph in the eighth of Romans. John, too, in his old age, dwelt on the consolation of that thought (1Jo 2:1). And if we only let it sink into our hearts, we find it the good news of God. 

Others may forget us in their prayers; there is One in heaven who never does forget.

Others may fail us when their lamp burns low; He ever liveth.

We are engirdled by the prayers of One who loves us and has the ear of God and therefore is able to save unto the uttermost.

Nor was this ministry begun in heaven; it was carried over from the days on earth. Our Lord on earth was an interceding Savior.

One remembers His words to Simon Peter recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke: "Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not."

And if our Lord so prayed when He was here, why should it be thought a thing incredible that He would continue that ministry in heaven?

Does not Satan desire to have us just as he desired to have Simon? And often when our foot has wellnigh slipped, have we not escaped out of the fowler's snare?

And why should we be charged with being mystical because we adoringly ascribe our rescue to the intercession of the risen Lord?

Did He not say, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter"?

Have we never experienced with an inward certainty that in the hour of need that Comforter has come? 

All fresh enduements of the Holy Spirit, whether for service or for suffering, are intimations of a praying Savior.

Again, we remember another intercession, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." And if He prayed that prayer when on the cross, we may be perfectly certain that forgiveness followed. 

Did not He say beside the grave of Lazarus, "I knew that thou hearest me always"?

How little any of us know what we are doing! How often we say, "If I had only known!" Hence springs remorse and agony of conscience and thoughts which reproach us in the silent night.

In such seasons, may we not lift our hearts to Him who ever lives to intercede and hear Him praying for our human ignorance as once He prayed upon the cross?

So much of our sin is not deliberate. Evil is wrought by want of thought. We are such ignorant and foolish beings that we can rarely follow our actions to their issues.

But He is praying for us just as He prayed on Calvary, and He is able to save unto the uttermost because He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

And then one thinks what this implies, for prayer is never an isolated thing.

Whenever anybody prays for you, it means that he bears you on his heart.

When a mother prays for her boy who is a prodigal, that is a token that she loves him still. When a sister prays for a brother who is careless, that means that he is very dear to her.

If our Lord is praying for us in His ascension, that tells us He has not forgotten us but is eager to help us in our need.

Prayers that do not lead to action are mockeries. True prayer issues in endeavor.

Unless we are willing to help the man we pray for, our prayers are nothing else than empty breath. 

Thus do we find assurance of His help when the way is dark and the heart is very sore, in the good news with which the Gospel rings, that He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

~George H. Morrison~

Cry Out To Be Delivered!

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Few will sincerely and spiritually go to the LORD, and cry from their hearts to be delivered from the power of a temptation, until it presses so weightily upon their conscience, and lies so heavy a burden upon their soul, that none but GOD can remove it.

But when we really feel the burden of a temptation; when, though our flesh may love it, our spirit hates it; when, though there may be in our carnal mind a cleaving to it, our conscience bleeds under it, and we are brought spiritually to loathe it and to loathe ourselves for it;

When we are enabled to go to the LORD in real sincerity of soul and honesty of heart, beseeching him to deliver us from it, I believe, that the Lord will, sooner or later, either remove that temptation entirely in his providence or by his grace, or so weaken its power that it shall cease to be what it was before, drawing our feet into paths of darkness and evil.

As long, however, as we are in that state of which the prophet speaks, "Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty" (Hosea 10:2); 

As long as we are in that carnal, wavering mind, which James describes, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways;" 

As long as we are hankering after the temptation, casting longing, lingering side glances after it, rolling it as a sweet morsel under our tongue, and though conscience may testify against it, yet not willing to have it taken away, there is no hearty cry, nor sigh, nor spiritual breathing of our soul, that GOD would remove it from us.

But when we are brought, as in the presence of a heart-searching GOD, to hate the evil to which we are tempted, and cry to him that he would, for his honor and for our soul's good, take the temptation away, or dull and deaden its power; 

Sooner or later the LORD will hear the cry of those who groan to be delivered from those temptations, which are so powerfully pressing them down to the dust.

~J. C. Philpot~

Weapons Doomed To Fail

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

There is great clatter in the forges and smithies of the enemy. 

They are making weapons wherewith to smite the saints.

They could not even do as much as this if the LORD of saints did not allow them; for He has created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire.

But see how busily they labor! How many swords and spears they fashion!

It matters nothing, for on the blade of every weapon you may read this inscription: It shall not Prosper.

But now listen to another noise: it is the strife of tongues. 

Tongues are more terrible instruments than can be made with hammers and anvils, and the evil which they inflict cuts deeper and spreads wider.

What will become of us now? Slander, falsehood, insinuation, ridicule-these are poisoned arrows; how can we meet them? 

The LORD God promises us that, if we cannot silence them, we shall, at least, escape from being ruined by them.

They condemn us for the moment, but we shall condemn them at last and forever.

The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped, and their falsehoods shall be turned to the honor of those good men who suffered by them.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sanctified Souls Are Satisfied

Jer 31:14  And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
 
Note the "My" which comes twice: "My people shall be satisfied with My goodness."

The kind of people who are satisfied with GOD are marked out as GOD'S own.

He is pleased with them, for they are pleased with Him.

They call Him their GOD, and He calls them His people;

He is satisfied to take them for a portion, and they are satisfied with Him for their portion.

There is a mutual communion of delight between GOD'S Israel and Israel's GOD.

These people are satisfied. 

This is a grand thing. Very few of the sons of men are ever satisfied, let their lot be what it may; they have swallowed the horse-leech, and it continually cries, "Give! give!"

Only sanctified souls are satisfied souls.  

GOD Himself must both convert us and content us.

It is no wonder that the LORD's people should be satisfied with the goodness of their LORD.

Here is goodness without mixture, bounty without stint, mercy without chiding, love without change, favor without reserve.

If GOD'S goodness does not satisfy us, what will?

What! are we still groaning?

Surely there is a wrong desire within if it be one which GOD'S goodness does not satisfy.

LORD, I am satisfied. Blessed be Thy name. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Flesh, Or Self-Principle~In The Will

And what is true of the intellect and the emotions is true in the realm of the will.

With many people it is their will that is in the way.

They have got a position, and they tenaciously hold to it and support it; they have got a grip, and they just cannot let go.

They will support their position with Scripture, or even with a “revelation” superior to Scripture!

Their will is the cause of all the trouble.

The cause of the setting back of all God’s purposes in their lives is just there: in their choices, their decisions, their position, their way; in their natural self-strength, that has never been broken. 

And so it is just there that circumcision must take place.

It applies in so many other ways. The cross, as the instrument of spiritual circumcision, has to be applied to this self-life deeper and ever more deeply, because there seems to be no end to it. 

But that is the painful side, the dark side.

What is happening on the other side? Is it not that room is being made for Christ?

The real seed, the seed of Christ, is growing, becoming more and more manifest.

The opposite of the characteristics which we have been considering - strength of intellect or emotion or will - is meekness.

He said: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29).

Pursue this right through, and you cannot fail to recognize that there was something radically different in the very depths of His being.

I have said that we cannot calculate the whole range of this self-principle, in its myriad forms of self-expression and self-occupation and self-attention and self-pity and self-consciousness and self-satisfaction.

Even in our Christian life, in our devotion to the LORD, we are so happy that other people see how devoted we are, and how humble we are! 

And it is the self, the wretched...may I use the word? the stinking self, coming up all the time. 

For a true child of God is oblivious of himself, has lost consciousness of himself in every way. 

If other people point out something good about them, they had not realized it, they were not aware of it.

They are surprised that anyone could say anything good about them; they are not conscious of that.

And on the other side, should people be critical and point out failings, well, they only say, “Yes, I know: I had that out with the LORD”, or “I have got that before the LORD right now."

I am not deceiving myself about that. This is the true child of Heaven.

So we could go on. That is the meaning of circumcision.

In the light of that, the true meaning, the true principle, think of a Pharisee - a child of Abraham - saying: “I am better than anyone else”, or making long prayers for everybody to see and to hear!

A child of ABRAHAM! You remember all that the LORD said about them.

Oh, they have missed the point! Ah, but do not let us criticize and blame.

It is a very searching thing for ourselves, is it not?

Paul says that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but a new creation. 

True circumcision is not of the flesh, but of the heart.

The LORD give us circumcised hearts, and give us grace to have this severance pursued to finality.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Unconscious Influence Of Our Thoughts

Again I want you to consider this...how much of our unconscious influence lies in our thoughts.

Not only by what we do and what we say, but by the kind of thoughts we are cherishing in secret, do we impress ourselves upon our neighbors and help or hinder the little world we move in.

That very suggestive and spiritual writer, Mr. Maeterlinck, puts the matter in his own poetic way.

He says, "Though you assume the face of a saint, a hero or a martyr, the eye of the passing child will not greet you with the same unapproachable smile, if there lurk within you an evil thought."

Now probably there is a little exaggeration there; one thought, flashing and then expelled, may not reveal itself.

The totality of saintly character is too great to be overborne by the intrusion of one shadow of the devil.

But it is certain that by the thoughts we harbor and let ourselves dwell upon and cherish in the dark, we touch and turn and influence our world when we never dream that we are doing it.

There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed - what a depth there is in that one word of Jesus!

He is not merely thinking of God's judgment bar tomorrow.

He is thinking of the undetected revelation of today.

Christ recognized that the kind of thing we brood on, the kind of thought we allow ourselves to think, though it never utter itself in actual words, or clothe itself in the flesh and blood of deeds, encompasses and affects the life of others like a poisonous vapor or like a breath of spring.

Your secret is not such a secret as you think. 

Why are men drawn to you? Why are men repelled by you? 

Why is it that sometimes we instinctively shrink from people in the very first hour that we meet them?

It is because the heart...more powerful than any x-ray deciphers for itself the secret story, brushes past speech and deed into the hidden place and apprehends the existence that is there.

To think base thoughts is a sin against our neighbor as surely as it is a sin against ourselves.

To be unclean even in imagination is to make it harder for others to be good.

In the interests of our influence then, no less than of our happiness, you see the need of governing our thoughts.

~George H. Morrison~

In God's Time

Hab 2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Mercy may seem slow, but it is sure. The LORD in unfailing wisdom has appointed a time for the outgoings of His gracious power, and GOD'S time is the best time.

We are in a hurry; the vision of the blessings excites our desire and hastens our longings; but the LORD will keep His appointments.

He never is before His time; He never is behind.

GOD'S word is here spoken of as a living thing which will speak and will come.

It is never a dead letter, as we are tempted to fear when we have long watched for its fulfillment.

The living word is on the way from the living GOD, and though it may seem to linger, it is not in reality doing so.

GOD'S train is not behind time. It is only a matter of patience, and we shall soon see for ourselves the faithfulness of the LORD.

No promise of His shall fail; "it will not lie." No promise of His will be lost in silence; "it shall speak."

What comfort it will speak to the believing ear!

No promise of His shall need to be renewed like a bill which could not be paid on the day in which it fell due-"it will not tarry."

Come, my soul, canst thou not wait for thy GOD? Rest in Him and be still in unutterable peacefulness.

~Charles Spurgeon~

How Long Will You Halt Between Two Opinions?

1Kings 18:21  And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

That word was never addressed to the unsaved. It was never intended for them.

It is only rarely that the unsaved are in the position of two opinions.

More often than not they are of no opinion.

This is what the prophet really said to the people: "How long limp ye from one side to another?"

He viewed them as lame, and lamed by uncertainty, lamed by indecision, paralyzed by an unsettled issue.

Oh, how an unsettled issue does paralyze the life.

Have a controversy with the Lord, an unsettled issue with the Lord, and your whole life is lamed, is paralyzed;

You are limping first one way and then the other; there is no sense of stability about your way.

So the prophet called for the issue to be settled. 

How long limp ye from one side to the other? Settle this issue one way or the other.

If Jehovah be God, let Him have His place, His full rights; settle it once and for all.

If Baal is god, well then let us be settled.

But until that is done you are crippled, you are paralyzed, and the whole secret of your being in that weak, indefinite, unstable, uncertain place is that God is not having His full rights;

There is a dividedness in your life, a dividedness in your own soul, because other interests and considerations are in view.

The dividedness may be in your home life, where you have power, authority and influence, and you are not standing one hundred percent for the Lord’s interests there.

It may be working in other directions, but wherever it is present the result is that deep down in your being you are not satisfied, you are not at rest.

You may be busy, you may be occupied, you may be rushing hither and thither in the Lord’s name, but you know that deep down there is a lack, an uncertainty, an unsettled state; your spiritual life is limited and paralyzed.

It will always be so until the issue is settled and God has His place in fullness in every part and relationship of your life.

It is a question of zeal for the Lord, jealousy for the Lord.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Travail Implies Something Costly

Now note the implication of this principle of travail...and there are many connections in which the law of travail operates:

Just go through the Bible and see the great number of connections where struggle and conflict and pain and anguish presages the emergence of some tremendous new thing of GOD.

But note the implication of such a law. What did God mean by it?

I think simply this - and perhaps much more, but certainly this...that nothing was going to be easy and cheap.

To put it another way: that GOD was really establishing the tremendous value of everything.

He was saving man from regarding things as being of little concern or value, forcing him to recognize that this thing is costly because it is valuable.

Surely this is the offset to the whole tendency of man’s nature to get things easily and cheaply, not to pay a price for them, to escape suffering, to escape labour, to get it all without any cost.

And GOD has written in the universe this law that anything that is of Him, whether in creation or in grace, has a price attached to it, is a costly thing; it is infinitely precious and valuable, and worth suffering for!

Note, it is intended to bring the soul in...“the travail of his SOUL”; “My SOUL is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” - to bring the soul into relation with things; and when we say that we mean love.

What we get cheaply and easily we do not really love.

But that which costs binds our hearts to it...it becomes a matter of the heart, of love.

And so by travail the soul is saved from lightness, carelessness, frivolity, cheapness, and brought to recognize that there is something here that is infinitely precious.

How far-reaching is that truth and that law! 

What a lot of ground it covers! GOD is not going to let the creation off in this matter.

This is the explanation of so much. And nations and peoples that just give themselves up to frivolity, to cheapness, to escapism and all that sort of thing, are on the high road to a bad time in their history.

It will not be too long before they pass through some fiery ordeal, in order to bring back the preciousness and the seriousness of things.

And if this is true in the realm of nature and the world, how much it explains in the realm of GOD's spiritual things!

Oh, the infinite tragedy of trying to make the things of GOD cheap and easy...even salvation, and the Christian life!

Appealing always to the pleasure side of men, trying to eliminate the cost.

The LORD Jesus never did that. Salvation is something of infinite cost: everything to do with salvation is infinitely precious, and there is not one fragment of all that is of GOD which is not of surpassing and transcendent value.

It is not just going to be had willy-nilly. 

Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Yes, suffering is attached to anything of value, and that is particularly true of spiritual things.

At that very point, you and I need to have our minds “converted” - we need a tremendous change of mind.

Unless you recognize that, unless that has become true for you, there are some things in the Bible you cannot understand.

They sound flippant, garrulous; they sound as though they are just words, words, words… 

Listen: “Our light affliction, which is for the moment…” (2 Cor. 4:17).

What are you talking about, Paul - “our light affliction”? 

Well, listen to his catalog of sufferings! Listen to him as he tells us of all that he had to go through for the Gospel’s sake, and read the much more that Luke tells us, that Paul never mentions personally.

What that beloved servant of GOD went through for the Gospel’s sake!

And yet he talks like this: “Our light affliction which is but for a passing moment”.

You cannot talk like that in the presence of suffering unless you have seen the infinite preciousness of that toward which GOD is working and bringing you.

Though now for a little while…ye have been put to grief in manifold trials, yet…ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory…” (1 Pet. 1:6,8).

Now look at the context of that: fiery trials.

You cannot get through, understand, endure the travail, unless you have some sense of the value of things.

~T. Austin Sparks~

VISION NEEDED BY EVERY CHILD OF GOD

You and I individually must be in the place where we can say, 'I have seen, I know what God is after!'

If we were asked why the Church is as it is today, in so large a measure of impotence and disintegration, and what is needed to bring about an impact from heaven by means of the Church, could we say? Is it presumption to claim to be able to do that?

The prophets knew; and remember that the prophets, whether they were of the Old Testament or of the New Testament, were not an isolated class of people, they were not some body apart, holding this in themselves officially. 

They were the very eyes of the body. They were, in the thought of God, the people of God. 

You know that principle; it is seen, for instance, in the matter of the High Priest.

God looks upon the one High Priest as Israel, and deals with all Israel on the ground of the condition of the High Priest, whether it be good or bad.

If the High Priest is bad - "And he showed me Joshua the high priest... clothed with filthy garments" (Zechariah 3:1-5) - that is Israel. 

God deals with Israel as one man.

The prophet is the same; and that is why the prophet was so interwoven with the very condition and life of the people.

Listen to the prophet Daniel praying. Personally he was not guilty; personally he had not sinned as the nation had sinned; but he took it all on himself and spoke as though it were his responsibility, as if he were the chief of sinners. 

These men were brought right into it. There is such a oneness between the prophets and the people in condition, in experience, in suffering, that they can never view themselves as officials apart from all that, as it were talking to it from the outside; they are in it, they are it.

My meaning is this, that we are not to have vision brought to us by a class called ministers, prophets and apostles.

They are here only to keep us alive to what we ought to be before God, how we ought to be; constantly stirring us up and saying, 'Look here, this is what you ought to be.'

It ought therefore to be, with every one of us personally, that we are in the meaning of this prophetic ministry.

The Church is called to be a prophet to the nations.

May I repeat my enquiry - it is a permissible question without admitting of any   presumption...could you say what is needed by the Church today?

Could you interpret the state of things, and explain truly by what the LORD has shown you in your own heart?

I know the peril and dangers that may surround such an idea, but that is the very meaning of our existence.

It will be in greater or lesser degree in every one of us, but, either more or less we have the key to the situation.

God needs people of that sort. It must be individual.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Spiritual Vs. The Natural

John 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

When the spiritual stands to confront the merely formal, traditional, nominal and "natural," then there is going to be trouble.

This is not now merely the reaction from the world: it is the reaction from religion.

I would go further, and say it may be the reaction from Christianity.

There is a very great difference between formal, traditional, nominal, "natural" Christianity, on the one side, and spiritual Christianity, on the other; a great deal of difference.

So much so, that this also becomes a battlefield...the battlefield of a lot of trouble.

Leave formalism alone, and everything will go on quite quietly.

Leave traditionalism alone-that is, the set order of things as it has always been; that framework of things as it has been constituted and set up and established by man; that Christianity which is the fixed, accepted system of things...and you will escape a great deal of trouble.

But seek to bring in a truly spiritual order of things, and trouble arises at once.

And YOU are the trouble maker!

The truth is that the trouble lies in the existing condition, the situation, the state; but it is only brought out by your action.

And so spiritual men and women, and spiritual ministry, are called "trouble makers," because the two things cannot go on together.

That is where Israel was. They had the traditions, they had the oracles, they had the ordinances, they had the testimonies; they had the forms, they had the system - they had it all; but, in the days of the prophets, there was ever this vast gap between the "externals" and "internals" of life in relation with GOD.

The heart is far removed from the lips.

The spiritual reality is not found in the formal. 

You may have it all – but then bring in the truly spiritual meaning of things, and trouble begins in that very realm.

It is the trouble which arises when what is external and traditional comes into conflict with something which is truly spiritual.

 
~T. Austin-Sparks~

Believe And Trust GOD!

Romans 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Abraham's faith reposed on GOD Himself. He knew the GOD he was dealing with. It was a personal confidence in one whom he could utterly trust.

The real secret of Abraham's whole life was that he was the friend of GOD, and knew GOD to be his great, good and faithful Friend, and, taking Him at His word, he had stepped out from all that he knew and loved, and gone forth upon an unknown pathway with none but GOD.

Beloved, are we trusting not only in the word of GOD, but have we learned to lean our whole weight upon Himself, the GOD of infinite love and power, our covenant GOD and everlasting Friend?

We are told that Abraham glorified GOD by this life of faith.

The true way to glorify GOD is to let the world see what He is, and what He can do.

GOD does not want us so much to do things, as to let people see what He can do. 

God is not looking for extraordinary characters as His instruments, but He is looking for humble instruments through whom He can be honored throughout the ages.

~A. B. Simpson~

Never Ashamed

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Gracious promise! It is a great joy to me to confess my LORD. Whatever my faults may be, I am not ashamed of Jesus, nor do I fear to declare the doctrines of His cross.

O LORD, I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart. Sweet is the prospect which the text sets before me!

Friends forsake and enemies exult, but the LORD does not disown His servant.

Doubtless my LORD will own me even here and give me new tokens of His favorable regard.

But there comes a day when I must stand before the great Father. What bliss to think that Jesus will confess me then! 

He will say, "This man truly trusted Me and was willing to be reproached for My name's sake; and therefore I acknowledge him as Mine."

The other day a great man was made a knight, and the Queen handed him a jeweled garter; but what of that?

It will be an honor beyond all honors for the LORD Jesus to confess us in the presence of the divine Majesty in the heavens.

Never let me be ashamed to own my LORD.

Never let me indulge a cowardly silence or allow a fainthearted compromise.

Shall I blush to own Him who promises to own me?

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sin of Worry

            

Psa 37:1  Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

This to me is a Divine command; the same as "Thou shalt not steal."                    

Now let us get to the definition of fretting.

One good definition is, "Made rough on the surface." "Rubbed, or worn away"; and a peevish, irrational, fault-finding person not only wears himself out, but is very wearing to others.

To fret is to be in a state of vexation, and in this Psalm we are not only told not to fret because of evildoers, but to fret not "in anywise."

It is injurious, and GOD does not want us to hurt ourselves.
 
A physician will tell you that a fit of anger is more injurious to the system than a fever, and a fretful disposition is not conducive to a healthy body;

And you know rules are apt to work both ways, and the next step down from fretting is crossness, and that amounts to anger.

Let us settle this matter, and be obedient to the command, "Fret not."

~Margaret Bottome~

OVERHEARD IN AN ORCHARD

Said the Robin to the Sparrow: "I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so?"

Said the Sparrow to the Robin:  "Friend, I think that it must be That they have no Heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me."

~Elizabeth Cheney~