True Christians KNOW When They Have Touched Light Or Darkness!

Anyone - and this is the test - who really has the Spirit is Very Sensitive to light and Very Sensitive to darkness. 

 

They know quite well about the BIG Division that GOD has made... 

 

And, when they touch Anything that belongs to the darkness realm, they feel the darkness in their own spirit...

 

They know they have touched darkness, they know they have come into another realm. 

 

That is a work of the Spirit, and a very important work indeed.

 

These are marks of the Spirit, judging which is which and what is what, what belongs to this realm and what belongs to that...

 

And these things are set apart...

 

So that it is something quite abnormal if darkness comes into the day or light into the night. 

 

It is not the ordinary course of things at all. 

 

Do you see the point? 

 

You can have those differences of kingdom or realm within your own family, your own household...

 

And there can be NO fellowship at all because there is the division which is made by the Holy Spirit Himself. 

 

~T. Austin Sparks~

 

The Last Pang, And Groan, And Tear!

                                      
The Christian also looks to the end of afflictions! 

The end may sometimes come in this world. 

In reference to this, the utmost that the believer can be sure of is that they will end in God's time.

They may last for his whole life.

The sickness which afflicts his body may be unto death.

The loss which he has sustained in his property may be irreparable,

And poverty may go down with him to the grave.

The trial which beclouds and distresses his spirits may be his lot for life.

But on the other hand, they may not! 

God may be bringing him "through fire and through water to bring him out into a wealthy place."

But the Christian leaves all this in the hand of God, and endeavors to maintain a hope which shall save him from despondency...

Checked at the same time by a reverence that guards him from unwarranted presumption.

But if the end of the trial should not come in this world-it will come in the next world...

When they will not only forever cease, but leave an eternal blessing behind!

I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us!

Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!

Four things are set forth in these passages:

1. Our afflictions will have a termination! 

This is sweet.

They are to End-they are Not To Last Forever!  

The last pang, and groan, and tear are at hand-and how near, the Christian never knows!

2. Our afflictions are not to end like those of the brute creation-in the grave merely, but in Heaven!

The last pang, and groan, and tear are to usher in that blessed state of which it is so beautifully said...

The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters...

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes!

Heaven shall terminate all the afflictions of the righteous! 

3. Heaven is so glorious, that the first view of its scenes, and the first moment of its enjoyment-shall make amends for the longest life of the most protracted and intense sufferings!

4. The sufferings of our earthly pilgrimage will enhance and increase the felicities of Heaven!

Their submissive endurance...

The graces which they call into exercise...

The sanctification which they promote...

The heavenly temper which they cultivate...

Will be the means of ripening the spirit, and making it fit for its eternal inheritance!

Every tear that is shed...

Every groan that is heaved...

Every loss that is sustained...

Every moment of suffering that is endured...

Every disappointment that is experienced...

Which is borne with patience, with resignation, with unwearied holiness...

Will not only be followed with millions of ages of indescribable intense happiness...

But will prepare the soul for its enjoyment, and add something to its weight and its luster!

~J. A. James

The Silent Influence In Parental Conduct

Parents have a great power of influence over the minds and hearts of their children. 

Their children are almost continually with them-they are seen by them in nearly all they do, in their habitual conduct, and character at home. 

They are heard in what they say; seen in what they do; studied in all their behavior; by little ears, and eyes and minds, which are scarcely ever closed!

The child's heart is soft and pliable to a father's or a mother's influence. 

Their constant influence has been molding him from the dawn of reason. 

What, then, ought to be the parents' behavior at home?

The whole cultivation, and direction, and management of a child's mind, from the very dawn of reason, should be carried on with special reference to the formation of Christian character. 

This should be the one thing, to which all other things should be subordination.

The silent influence in parental conduct is far greater, either for good or for evil, than most parents are aware of. 

They teach by what they say, they influence by what they do; and also by what they do not say, and do not perform.

The pious parents, who embody a meek, benevolent, ardent and consistent godliness in their character, exert a tremendous influence over the minds of their children!

But oh! the dreadful contrast in the case of those parents who are characterized by ungodly dispositions, worldly associations, mirthful and extravagant living, trifling conversation, and lack of all seriousness and spirituality.

Oh! what can be expected from such parents-but children who regard their religion with disgust?

Every man is best known at home. 

Parents are ever doing something to prejudice their children in favor of true religion-or to prejudice them against it; 

Doing something to draw them into the church-or to drive them into the world;

Lending a helping hand to lead then to heaven-or taking them by the hand and leading them to Hell.

Parents! Must you employ your influence in ruining the souls of your children-and sending them to perdition? 

Oh! tremble at the interview you must have with them at the day of judgment, and the dialog you must hold with them forever in the bottomless pit!!

~J. A. James