To Walk With God, Is To Live Ever As In His Presence!

Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Pro 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

To walk with God, is to live ever as in His presence! 

To realize His presence, to abide continually under His eye, to recognize our Father as close by our side...is the secret of much peace. 

We must ever regard Him, not as if He were far away in some inaccessible abode...but nearer to us than our nearest friend. 

In our chamber, by the wayside, at our work, in our recreation, when mingling with others, or all alone...we must see One whom the world sees not, we must hear a voice that the world hears not.

In the life of the sweet Psalmist of Israel, the same truth was ever the joy of his heart.

As he lay down to rest, it was his joy to know that the sleepless Guardian of His people was by him: "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for You O Lord alone make me to dwell in safety." 

As he arose, he still rejoiced in the almighty Friend who was ever near him: "When I awake, I am still with You." 

Surrounded by malicious foes, it is still his confidence, "You are near, O Lord." 

Under all the circumstances of his eventful life, the nearness of God was the rock on which he reposed: "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."

Whether beneath the eye of man or not, let all things be done under the eye of Him to whom...all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden!

A few plain principles have been given to assist us in carrying this out in daily practice... 

Say nothing you would not like God to hear. 

Do nothing you would not like God to see.

Write nothing you would not like God to read.

Go to no place where you would not like God to find you.

Read no book of which you would not like God to say, "Show it to Me."

Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like God to say, "What are You doing?"

To consciously live in God's presence, will aid us in cultivating thorough genuine devout and godly character.

~George Everard~

Golden Calf Christianity Any Objections?

Any objection to the evangelistic methods of our present golden-calf Christianity, is met with the triumphant reply, "But we are winning the lost!"

And what are you winning them to?

To true discipleship?

To cross-carrying?

To self-denial?

To separation from the world?

To crucifixion of the flesh?

To holy living?

To nobility of character?

To a despising of the world's treasures?

To total committal to Christ?

Of course, the answer to all these questions is NO!

~A. W. Tozer~

Got To Take That Step Of Faith Before The Waters Are Parted

Joshua 3:13  And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.

The people were not to wait in their camps until the way was opened, they were to walk by faith. 

They were to break camp, pack up their goods, form in line to march, and move down to the very banks before the river would be opened.

If they had come down to the edge of the river and then had stopped for the stream to divide before they stepped into it, they would have waited in vain. 

They must take one step into the water before the river would be cut off.

We must learn to take God at His Word, and go straight on in duty, although we see no way in which we can go forward.

The reason we are so often balked by difficulties is that we expect to see them removed before we try to pass through them.

If we would move straight on in faith, the path would be opened for us. 

We stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles.
 
~Evening Thoughts~

What a lesson Columbus gave to the world of perseverance in the face of tremendous difficulties!
 
Behind him lay the gray Azores, Behind the gates of Hercules;
 
Before him not the ghost of shores, Before him only shoreless seas.
 
The good Mate said: "Now we must pray, For lo! the very stars are gone.
 
Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?" "Why, say, 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"
 
My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly wan and weak!"
 
The stout Mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
 
What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?
 
Why, you shall say at break of day,'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"
 
They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the Mate: 

This mad sea shows its teeth tonight. He curls his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
 
Brave Admiral, say but one good word; What shall we do when hope is gone?
 
The words leapt like a leaping sword: "Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"
 
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck And peered through darkness. 

Ah! that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck--A light! A light! A light! A light!
 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
 
He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"
 
~Joaquin Miller~

Faith that goes forward triumphs.

I Give Them All

People are not willing to pay that price, and that is why so many Christians must be described as "common." 

Most Christians talk piously about the cost of Christianity in terms of the unclean, injurious and grossly sinful things they have "surrendered."

But if they never get beyond that they are still common Christians.

They talk about having given up the bad things, but the Apostle Paul said that for Christ's sake he surrendered the good things as well as the bad.

What things were gain to me I count but loss, he said. 

He meant things to which he still had a legal and moral right, things about which he could have said, These are mine and Christianity is not going to take them from me!

I yield them all, I give them all because I have found That which is so much better, he wrote. 

He had found "That" which was with the Father, Jesus Christ, the fountain from Whom flows all wisdom and beauty and truth and immortality!
 
Paul knew something that many Christians still have not learned...that the human heart is idolatrous and will worship anything it can possess. 

Therein lies the danger of the "good" things.
 
We have surrendered evil things, bad things, but we hold on to the good things and these we are prone to worship. 

Whatever we refuse to surrender and count but loss we will ultimately worship. 

It may be something good, but it gets between you and God,,,whether it be property or family or reputation or security or your life itself.
 
Jesus warned us about our selfishness in grasping and hanging on to our own lives. 

He taught that if we make our life on earth so important and so all-possessing that we cannot surrender it gladly to Him, we will lose it at last.

He taught that plainly...

And He also warned us about trusting earthly security rather than putting our complete confidence in God.
 
~A. W. Tozer~