Forewarned, Forearmed-Satan Lays The Emphasis Upon Tomorrow

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.                                                    

We are Always Prone to put the accent there.

It is very hard to grasp the True splendor of the present.

Today seems insignificant; Tomorrow shall be the Real day for us....

God Never speaks that way.

God's Bible Never speaks that way.

It tells us that the Present is divine, and lays the whole emphasis upon today: "NOW is the Accepted Time."

And the Holy Ghost is saying, Today.

And this is the Arch-Device of the Arch-Tempter...

In every life, for every start and every noble deed, God says, Today.

In every life for every start and every noble deed, the devil says, Tomorrow.

Is it conversion? Today, says God: Tomorrow, whispers Satan.

Is it the breaking with that sin? Tomorrow.

Is it the starting on a higher level? Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow! 

Till by tomorrow's road we are at Never-and the Chance is Gone, and the Dream has Vanished, and the Hope is Dead.

O friends, young men and women, be not Ignorant of that Device.

It will never be easier to come to Christ than Now.

It will never be easier to make the start than Now.

God says, Today, Tonight! 

And God who says it is here to give the power that can save Now, and can cleanse Now, and can send you home Now with old things passed away and all things New in Jesus Christ.

~George H. Morrison

The Heart Was Wrong, And Therefore Everything Was Wrong!

Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

Much is said about these Stony-ground hearers of the Word which is attractive and hopeful.

I Anticipate a True life, a Brave witness, an Abundant harvest.

But Suddenly comes the Check, the Change, the Fall.

And What Was The Problem?

Ah! the Heart was Wrong, and therefore Everything was Wrong!

1. The Heart was Unbroken. The Rock had Never Been Penetrated at all, and the Seed Died soon on its Hard and Impervious surface.

I wonder whether the Stubbornness and the  No Sensibility of my Heart have been Shattered.

Have I been Melted...?

Into Practical Concern of soul...?

Into the Sense of Spiritual Neediness...?

Into Godly Sorrow...?

Into Contrite Prayer?

There can be No New Birth and No Vital Growth, Until then!

After an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the lava Covered the fields with an apparently Invincible crust...

But the peasants Bored Holes in it...

And Pierced to the Ground Below, and Planted their vines...

And in Due Season Gathered the grapes.

Has the lava-crust of my heart been Divinely Pierced and Overcome?

2. And the Heart was Shallow and Superficial.

It had no depth.

Immediately beneath the Thin layer of top-soil, was that Rebellious and Intractable Stiff Neck...

The Seed had not a sufficient resting-place and home.

This is the Fatal Fault of very many.

They do not stop to think about Unseen, Eternal, Heavenly things.

They do not take time to Consider their own Miserable State of Soul, and the Grace of Jesus Christ.

They Nod, and Glance, and Bustle by.

Again I ought to Examine myself.

I can be Eager enough and Resolute enough, about Earthly matters.

But have I ever Roused my very soul...?

Have I ever Set my face like a Flint...?

To Seek and Find the Lord my Savior, my Righteousness, my Strength?

There is no possibility of salvation for the Superficial heart!

3. And the Heart was Dry.

It had None of the Moistening, Subduing, Fruitful influences of the Holy Spirit.

If the showers descend upon the rocky soil, there is no loam to retain them and to derive a benefit from them.

Just so, does everything Depend on the Spirit's presence and Work within me!

Apart from His dews and gentle rains, I am helpless, hopeless, dead, damned!

For until His Almightiness Renews me...

Until His waters Satisfy and Enliven my Parched and Thirsty being...

Until I receive the Outpouring of the Grace of God...I have No Spiritual life.

Is it not a Miserable Heart, this Heart of Stone?

Eze 36:26  A New heart also will I give you, and a New spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the Stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

~Alexander Smellie