The Comforting Assurance

Act 20:35  I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Though spoken originally by Jesus regarding temporal things, this may be taken as a motto for the child of God amid all the changing vicissitudes of his changing history.

How it should lull all misgivings; silence all murmurings; lead to lowly, unquestioning submissiveness, "My Heavenly Father knows that I have need of all these things!"

Where can a child be safer or better than in a father's hand?
 
Where can the believer be better than in the hands of his God?
 
We are poor judges of what is best for us.

We are under safe guidance with infallible wisdom.

If we are tempted in a moment of rash presumption to say, "All these things are against me!" let this "word" rebuke the hasty and unworthy surmise.Unerring wisdom and Fatherly love, have pronounced all to be "needful."

My soul, is there anything that is disturbing your peace?

Are providences dark, or crosses heavy? Are spiritual props removed, creature comforts curtailed, gourds smitten and withered like grass?

Write on each,"Your Father knows that you have need of all these things!"

It was He who increased your burden. Why? "It was needed."

It was He who crossed your worldly schemes, marred your cherished hopes. Why? "It was needed."

A pleasant flower in the coveted path — it was supplanting Himself — He had to remove it! There was some higher spiritual blessing in communion with God.

Seek to cherish a spirit of more childlike confidence in your Heavenly Father's will.

You are not left unfriended and alone to buffet the storms of the wilderness.

Your Marahs as well as your Elims are appointed by Him.

A gracious pillar-cloud is before you. Follow it through sunshine and storm. He may "lead you about," but He will not lead you wrong.

Unutterable tenderness is the characteristic of all His dealings.
 
Blessed be His name, says a tried believer, "He makes my feet like hinds' feet" (literally, "equals" them), "He equals them for every precipice, every ascent, every leap."

And who is it that speaks this quieting word? It is He who Himself felt the preciousness of the assurance during His own awful sufferings, that all were needed, and all appointed;  

That from Bethlehem's cradle to Calvary's Cross there was not an unnecessary thorn in the crown of sorrow which He, the Man of Sorrows, bore.

Every drop in His bitter cup was mingled by His Father: "This cup which You give Me to drink, shall I not drink it?"

Oh, if He could extract comfort in this hour of inconceivable agony, in the thought that a Father's hand lighted the fearful furnace-fires — what strong consolation is there is the same truth to all His suffering people!

What! one superfluous drop! one unessential pang! one unneeded cross!

Hush the secret atheism! He gave His Son for you! He calls Himself "your Father!"

Whatever be the trial under which you are now smarting, let the word of a gracious Savior be "like oil thrown on the fretful sea;" let it dry every rebellious tear-drop.

He, your unerring Parent, knows that you have need of this as well as all these things.

~John Macduff~

Implicit Trust

Jer 39:18  For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.
 
Behold the protecting power of trust in God.  

The great men of Jerusalem fell by the sword, but poor Ebed-melech was secure, for his confidence was in Jehovah. 

Where else should a man trust but in his Maker?

We are foolish when we prefer the creature to the Creator. Oh, that we could in all things live by faith, then should we be delivered in all time of danger! 

No one ever did trust in the LORD in vain, and no one ever shall.

The LORD saith, "I will surely deliver thee," Mark the divine "surely."

Whatever else may be uncertain, God's care of believers is sure. God Himself is the guardian of the gracious, Under His sacred wing there is safety even when every danger is abroad.

Can we accept this promise as sure? Then in our present emergency we shall find that it stands fast. 

We hope to be delivered because we have friends, or because we are prudent, or because we can see hopeful signs; but none of these things are one-half so good as God's simple "because thou hast put thy trust in me." 

Dear reader, try this way, and, trying it, you will keep to it all your life. It is as sweet as it is sure. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Light And Lightning

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.

And the spirit is one of light! All the doors and windows are open. His correspondences are perfect and unbroken. He is of “quick understanding,” keen-scented to discern the essences of things, alert to perceive the reality behind the semblance, to “see things as they are.” All the great primary senses are awake, and He has knowledge of every “secret place.”

He shall smite with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay. 

The spirit of light follows a crusade of holiness. The light becomes lightning! 

The “breathing,” which cools the fever-stricken, can also become a hot breath, which wastes and destroys every plant of evil desire. 

It is an awful thing, and yet a gracious thing, that “our God is a consuming fire.”

It was foretold of our Lord that He should baptize “with fire.”
And this crusade of holiness is in the ministry of peace. 

He will burn away all that defileth, in order that He may create a profound and permanent fellowship.  

When His work is done, there will be a mingling of apparent opposites, and antagonisms will melt into a gracious union. “The sucking child will play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.”

~John Henry Jowett~

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UNSELFISHNESS

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 

For even Christ pleased not Himself, but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. 
Romans 15:3

Too legibly are the characters written on the fallen heart and a fallen world---"All seek their own!"

Selfishness is the great law of our degenerated nature. 

When the love of God was dethroned from the soul, SELF vaulted into the vacant seat, and there, in some one of its ever-changing shapes, continues to reign.

Jesus stands out for our imitation, as a grand solitary exception in the midst of a world of selfishness.

His entire life was one abnegation of self; a beautiful living embodiment of that love which "seeks not her own." 

He who for others turned water into wine, and provided a miraculous supply for the fainting thousands in the wilderness---exerted no such miraculous power for His own necessities. 

During His forty days' temptation, no table did He spread for Himself, no booth did He rear for His unpillowed bead. 

Twice do we read of Him shedding tears---on neither occasion were they for Himself.

The approach of His cross and passion, instead of absorbing Him in His own approaching sufferings, seemed only to elicit new and more gracious promises to His people.

When His enemies came to apprehend Him, His only stipulation was for His disciples' release "Let these go their way."

In the very act of departure, with all the boundless glories of eternity in sight---they were still all His care.

Ah, how different is the spirit of the world!

With how many is day after day only a new oblation to that idol SELF pampering their own wishes; envying and grieving at the good of a neighbor; unable to brook the praise of a rival; establishing their own reputation on the ruins of another; thus engendering jealousy, discontent, peevishness, and every kindred unholy passion. 

But you have not so learned Christ! 

Reader! have you been sitting at the feet of Him who "pleased not Himself?

Are you "dying daily;" dying to self as well as to sin?

Are you animated with this as the high end and aim of existence?

To lay out your time, and talents, and opportunities for God's glory and the good of your fellow-men?

Not seeking your own interests but rather relinquishing these, if, by doing so, another will be made holier, and your Savior honored?

You may not have it in your power to manifest this "mind of Jesus" on a great scale, by enduring great sacrifices; nor is this required. 

His denial of self had about it no repulsive austerity; but you can SEE its holy influence and sway, by innumerable little offices of kindness and goodwill; taking a generous interest in the welfare of others, or engaging in schemes for the mitigation of human misery.

Avoid ostentation which is only another repulsive form of self.

Be eager to be in the shadows; sound no trumpet before you.

The evangelist Matthew held a great banquet for Jesus at his house; but in his Gospel, he says not one word about it!

Seek to live more constantly and habitually under the constraining influence of the love of Jesus.

Selfishness withers and dies beneath Calvary!

Ah, believer! if Christ had "pleased Himself," where would you have been this day?

~John Macduff~

The LORD Has Appointed The Path Of Sorrow

2Co 1:7  And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.  
The Lord has appointed the path of sorrow for the redeemed to walk in. Why?

One purpose is to wean them from the world; another purpose is to show them the weakness of the creature; a third purpose is to make them feel the liberty and vitality of genuine godliness made manifest in their soul's experience. 

What am I, and what are you when we have no trials? Light, frothy, worldly-minded, carnal, frivolous. 

We may talk of the things of God, but they are at a distance; there are no solemn feelings, no melting sensations, no real brokenness, no genuine contrition, no weeping at the divine feet, no embracing of Christ in the arms of affection.

But when affliction, be it in providence or be it in grace, brings a man down; when it empties him of all his high thoughts, lays him low in his own eyes, brings trouble into his heart, I assure you he needs something more than mere external religion. 

He needs power; he needs to experience in his soul the operations of the blessed Spirit; he wants to have a precious Jesus manifesting himself to his soul in love and blood.

He needs to see his lovely countenance beaming upon him in ravishing smiles; he needs to hear the sweet whispers of dying love speaking inward peace; he needs to have the blessed Lord come into his soul, manifesting himself to him as he does not manifest himself to the world.

What brings a man here? A few dry notions floating to and fro in his brain, like a few drops of oil in a pail of water? That will never bring the life and power of vital godliness into a man's heart.

It must be by being experimentally acquainted with trouble. 

When he is led into the path of tribulation, he then begins to long after, and, in God's own time and way, he begins to drink into, the sweetness of vital godliness, made manifest in his heart by the power of God.

~J. C. Philpot~

The Secret Strength Of Faith

Where lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is—an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God; and faith says, “My God could not have given this promise, except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain his Word will be fulfilled.” 

Then faith thinketh, “Who gave this promise?” It considereth not so much its greatness, as, “Who is the author of it?” 

She remembers that it is God who cannot lie—God omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm conviction.
 
She remembereth,why the promise was given,—namely, for God’s glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God’s glory is safe, that he will never stain his own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre
of his own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand. 

Then faith also considereth the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the Father’s intention to fulfil his word.

He that spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 

Moreover faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. 

She remembers that God never has failed her; nay, that he never did once fail any of his children. 

She recollecteth times of great peril, when deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her day her strength was found, and she cries, “No, I never will be led to think that he can change and leave his servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and he will help me still.”

Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does so, can with assurance say, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!

~Charles Spurgeon~

My Words Shall Be Fulfilled In Their Season

My words..which shall be fulfilled in their season. (Luke 1:20)

Luk 1:45  And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. 

The Lord is sure to accomplish those things A loving heart has waited long to see

Those words will be fulfilled to which she clings, Because her God has promised faithfully

And, knowing Him, she ne’er can doubt His Word; He speaks and it is done. The Mighty LORD!
 
The Lord is sure to accomplish those things, O burdened heart, rest ever in His care; In quietness beneath His shadowing wings
Await the answer to your longing prayer.
 
When you have “cast your cares,” the heart then sings, The Lord is sure to accomplish those things.
 
The Lord is sure to accomplish those things, O tired heart, believe and wait and pray.
 
Peacefully, the evening chime still rings, Though cloud and rain and storm have filled the day.
 
Faith pierces through the mist of doubt that bars The coming night sometimes, and finds the stars.
 
The Lord is sure to accomplish those things, O trusting heart, the Lord to you has told.
 
Let Faith and Hope arise, and lift their wings, To soar toward the sunrise clouds of gold; The doorways of the rosy dawn swing wide, Revealing joys the darkness of night did hide.
 
~Bessie Porter~
 
Matthew Henry said,“We can depend on God to fulfill His
promise, even when all the roads leading to it are closed. 

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. 

And so through him the “Amen” [so be it] is spoken by us to the glory of God’ [2 Cor. 1:20].

Being Still Enough To Hear His Voice

Some twenty years ago a friend gave me a book entitled True
Peace. It had an old medieval message and this one primary
thought—that God was waiting in the depths of my being to
speak to me if I would only be still enough to hear His voice.
 
I assumed this would not be a difficult thing to do, so I tried
to be still. No sooner had I begun to do so than complete pandemonium seemed to break loose. 

Suddenly I heard a thousand voices and sounds from without and within, until I could hear nothing except these incredible noises. 

Some were my own words, my own questions, and even my own prayers, while others were temptations of the Enemy, and the voices of the world’s turmoil.
 
In every direction I turned, I was pushed, pulled, and confronted with indescribable unrest and overwhelming noises.
 
I seemed compelled to listen to some of them and to respond in some way. 

But God said, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10) 

Then my mind was filled with worries over my responsibilities and plans for tomorrow, and God said again, “Be still.”
 
As I listened and slowly learned to obey, I shut my ears to every other sound. 

Soon I discovered that once the other voices ceased, or once I ceased to hear them, “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12) began to speak in the depths of my being. 

And it spoke to me with an inexpressible tenderness, power, and
comfort.
 
This “gentle whisper” became for me the voice of prayer, wisdom, and service. 

No longer did I need to work so hard to think, pray, or trust, because the Holy Spirit’s “gentle whisper” in my heart was God’s prayer in the secret places of my soul. 

It was His answer to all my questions, and His life and strength
for my soul and body. 

His voice became the essence of all knowledge, prayer, and blessings, for it was the living God Himself as my life and my all.
 
This is precisely how our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord. 

And then we are enabled to face life’s conflicts and responsibilities, like a flower that has absorbed the cool and refreshing drops of dew through the darkness of the night. 

Yet just as dew never falls on a stormy night, the dew of His grace never covers a restless soul. 

~A. B. Simpson~

Don't Indulge In The Flesh If You Would Live In The Power Of Your Risen LORD!

Vanish for ever all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in the power of your risen Lord. 

It were ill that a man who is alive in Christ should dwell in the corruption of sin. "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" said the angel to Magdalene. 

Should the living dwell in the sepulchre? Should divine life be immured in the charnel house of fleshly lust? 

How can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink the cup of Belial? 

Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and delusive lime-twigs of the Satanic fowler? 

Have you come forth from the lust of pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped from carnal security? 

Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness, the pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? 

Remember, it is for this that you have been enriched with the treasures of God. 

If you be indeed the chosen of God, and beloved by Him, do not suffer all the lavish treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. 

Follow after holiness; it is the Christian's crown and glory.  

An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. 

The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church. 

O Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You are God's priest: act as such. You are God's king: reign over your lusts. 

You are God's chosen: do not associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live like a heavenly spirit, so shall you prove that you have true faith in Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there be holiness in the life.

Lord, I desire to live as one Lord, I desire to live as one Who bears a blood-bought name, As one who fears but grieving Thee,
And knows no other shame.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Children Of Israel "GO FORWARD"!

Exo 14:15  And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

Exo 14:16  But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

Dear child of God, just imagine that triumphal march! Picture
the excited children being constantly hushed and restrained
by their parents from their outbursts of wonder.

Think how the women must have experienced an uncontrollable excitement as they found themselves suddenly saved from a fate worse than death.Imagine how the men who accompanied them must have felt ashamed and admonished for mistrusting God and for complaining against Moses.

And as you envision the Red Sea’s mighty walls of water, separated by the outstretched hand of the Eternal in response to the faith of a single man, learn what God will do for His own.

Never dread any consequence resulting from absolute obedience to His command. 

Never fear the rough waters ahead, which through their proud contempt impede your progress.
 
God is greater than the roar of raging water and the mighty
waves of the sea.“The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the
Lord is enthroned as King forever” (Ps. 29:10). 

A storm is simply the hem of His robe, the sign of His coming, and the evidence of His presence.
 
Dare to trust Him! Dare to follow Him! Then discover that the forces that blocked your progress and threatened your life
become at His command the very materials He uses to build your street of freedom.

~F. B. Meyer~
 
Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life, Where, in spite of all you can do, There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?
 
Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene Till the night of your fear is gone.
 
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods, When He says to your soul,“Move on.”
 
And His hand will lead you through...clear through  Ere the watery walls roll down, No foe can reach you, no wave can touch, No mightiest sea can drown.

The tossing billows may rear their crests, Their foam at your feet may break, But o’er the seabed you will walk dry ground In the path that your Lord will make.
 
In the morning watch, ’neath the lifted cloud, You will see but the Lord alone, When He leads you on from the place of the sea
To a land that you have not known.

And your fears will pass as your foes have passed, You will be no more afraid.

You will sing His praise in a better place, A place that His hand has made.

~Annie Johnson Flint~

Being Made Ready For Your Place In The Temple

Zec 6:13  Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
 
Christ himself is the builder of his spiritual temple, and he has built it on the mountains of his unchangeable affection, his omnipotent grace, and his infallible truthfulness. 

But as it was in Solomon’s temple, so in this; the materials need making ready. 

There are the “Cedars of Lebanon,” but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down, and shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord’s house in Paradise. 

There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must
be hewn thence, and squared. All this is Christ’s own work. 

Each individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ’s own hand
performs the preparation-work. 

Afflictions cannot sanctify, excepting as they are used by him to this end. 

Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright.
 
As in the building of Solomon’s temple, “there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house,” because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy. 

So is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. 

When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here.

All that Christ will do beforehand; and when he has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.

Beneath his eye and care, The edifice shall rise, Majestic, strong, and fair, And shine above the skies.”


~Charles Spurgeon~

The People Shall Dwell Alone

Num 23:9  For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

Not reckoned among the nations. Oh, that is glorious! That puts Israel not only apart from the nations, but on top of the nations. 

Now, if there has been one thing which Satan has ever tried to do with the people of God in all ages, it has been to get them reckoned among the nations. I speak solemnly and carefully. 

Right at the very heart of Christendom as we have it today is the desire to be recognized. Recognition!

Everything that organized Christianity does is to gain recognition. What are all these churches? I mean, in this instance, all these elaborate and imposing buildings. They are to gain recognition. They are in order to be reckoned something. 

To what end is all the procedure, the advertisement, and the much else besides? It is in order to get recognition, to be accredited here on this earth, to be reckoned. 

Yes, that is Satan's triumph. That is where spiritual power has gone out. That is where the Church has ceased to be something to be reckoned with up there. It has, in spirit, come down here, to be reckoned among the nations. 

If only Satan can get the people of God into a position where they are taken up by this world, written up by this world, made something of by this world, he has triumphed and pulled the Church down out of its heavenly place and made it an earthly thing. 

That is the principle right through the Old Testament. That too is seen to be the trouble in the Revelation. God will not have it. Satan's success is along that line. He has pulled the Church out of the heavens. Somewhere he has made it touch earth, form a link in some way with earth.

What we have just said does touch us in so many ways, yes, in countless things, this question of being reckoned among the nations in principle, this coming down from the heavenly position.

The Lord never meant His Church on this earth to be something that would be taken up by this world, to be something that would be reckoned among the things of this world, recognized and accredited by this world.

What He meant, and what obtained when things were right, was that the world itself could not bear the presence of the Church, did not want it. That is the power of the Church to testify against the world.

~T. Austin Sparks~

GOD SEES AND HEARS EVERYTHING

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.

All men, openly profane men, who are enemies to Christ, and his people, are under his eye and notice; he knows their persons, he sees their actions, even those that are most secretly devised and performed against him, and his saints; and he takes such notice of them, as to bring them into judgment for them.

He knows formal professors of religion, and upon what foot they have taken up their profession, and how they keep their lusts with their profession. He can distinguish between profession and grace; and he knows and observes the springs and progress of their apostasy:

And as for true believers, he knows their persons, and knows them to be his; he sees their sins and their weaknesses; he takes notice of their graces, and observes their wants; and there is nothing in them, or belongs to them, but what is before him, even the secret desires of their souls. 

~John Gill~  

Psa 33:13  The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. 

Where his throne and temple are, upon the earth and men, and things in it, he beholdeth all the sons of men; the evil and the good; which is contrary to the sense of many wicked men, who imagine he takes no notice of what is done here below; but his eye is upon all, upon all the workers of iniquity, how secret soever they may be.

And not only his eye of Providence is upon good men, but his eye of love, grace, and mercy; and he has a special and distinct knowledge of them: 

~John Gill~ 

Pro 5:21  For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. 

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord---Both good and bad; the ways of a chaste and virtuous man, who cleaves to his own wife and shuns the harlot, which are approved of by the Lord.

And the ways of a lewd man, all the impure thoughts, desires, and contrivances of his mind, and all the steps he takes to commit lewdness, and all the filthy actions he is guilty of, these are all open and naked to the omniscient God:

The adulterer seeks the twilight, and flatters himself with secrecy, not considering that the eye of God is upon him; there are many, that, were their filthy actions known to men, they would be ashamed of them; and this consideration greatly deters from them, and puts them upon secret ways of committing them; Much more should the consideration of the divine omniscience weigh with them to avoid them.
 
And he pondereth all his goings; he not only sees them, but takes notice of them, and observes them, and ponders them in his mind, and lays them up there, in order to bring to an account for them hereafter; yea, he weighs them in the balance of justice, and will proportion the punishment unto them, according to the rules of it; when it must go ill with those that follow such lewd practices.

~John Gill~ 

Psa 139:4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 

For there is not a word in my tongue---Expressed by it or upon it, just ready to be spoken; before it is formed there; while it is in the mind, and not expressed, and even before that.

But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether; the whole of it, from whence it springs; the reason of it, what is designed, or the ends to be answered by it. 

The Lord knows the good words of his people, which they speak to him in prayer, even before and while they are speaking them; and what they say to one another in private conversation.

There is a great God in heaven who sees all things, and governs all things.

~John Gill~
















                                                                       

Divine Cultivation

I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day (Isaiah 27:3).
 
When the LORD Himself speaks in His own proper person rather than through a prophet, the word has a peculiar weight to believing minds.

It is Jehovah Himself who is the keeper of His own vineyard; He does not trust it to any other, but He makes it His own personal care. Are they not well kept whom God Himself keeps?

We are to receive gracious watering, not only every day and every hour "but every moment." How we ought to grow! How fresh and fruitful every plant should be! What rich clusters the vines should bear!

But disturbers come; little foxes and the boar. Therefore, the LORD Himself is our Guardian, and that at all hours, both night and day. What, then, can harm us? Why are we afraid! He tends, He waters, He guards; what more do we need?

Twice in this verse the LORD says, "I will." What truth, what power, what love, what immutability we find in the great "I will" of Jehovah!

Who can resist His will? If He says "I will," what room is there for doubt? 

With an "I will" of God we can face all the hosts of sin, death, and hell. 

O LORD, since Thou sayest, "I will keep thee," I reply, "I will praise Thee!" 

~Charles Spurgeon~