The Blood Effectual Through The Cross

So do not let us think of using phrases at the enemy.

It is occupying a position which paralyzes the enemy, an impregnable position, and all that he can do is to walk round and round trying to find some way in.

The Blood is the ground of the testimony. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb."

It is not by using something in an objective way, it is because of something in a subjective way; because of the Blood of the Lamb.

Well, you see, that means that the Cross must have become an actuality.

The Blood becomes released and effectual by way of the Cross.

I mean, that the Cross must have removed all the ground of death for the testimony of the Blood in life to be established.

The ground of death is dealt with in the Cross. 

You see, the specific significance of the Cross in this matter is that there we, in all that we are by nature, have been taken and set aside. That is the Cross.

After that you have the living testimony of the Blood.

It is another nature; not the nature which has been put away in the Cross, but another nature, His own nature, which goes on in glory... testimony

After the sacrifice has been offered, the Blood is carried through into the Most Holy Place to be an abidingly living testimony, and it is there as witnessing to the fact that all that ground of death in the old nature has been abolished, put away.

This Blood in the presence of God says, There is another nature which triumphs over that, triumphs over death, over sin, over the flesh: and therefore over all the power of Satan.

That is the present testimony of the Blood.

The Cross, then, must have been appropriated by us.

We must have come to the place where we accept our union with Christ in His death to all that is of nature; otherwise there is no living testimony.

Any attempt at testimony will be very soon countered by the enemy.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Not Reckoned Among The Nations

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~

Would We Really Rather Have Things Our Way?

Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Will we ever learn this?  If we would live in this world for the Honor and Glory of Christ, we must understand that it is our glorious privilege and responsibility to wait on our GOD.

If we would honor the LORD Jesus we must wait on Him faithfully believing His word, trusting His promises, resting in His finished work as our Savior, hiding beneath His precious blood, depending on Him for righteousness, salvation, and acceptance with our GOD.
 
We must wait on Him patiently without murmuring, without complaint, without dissatisfaction,  without discontent.
 
GOD does not always work immediately, but He always works.

He never performs His works on our carnal schedule, but according to His all wise eternal purpose of grace.

Let us be patient. GOD knows what's best for His Glory and our immortal souls. He knows when, where, and how to work deliverance for us, far better than we do.

We must wait submissively. We must submit our vain wills to His Sovereign, Almighty, Perfect will.

We must wait on Him with a spirit of humility and submission as children waiting on their father to help them, feed them, teach them, and provide for them.

His name is Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord Will Provide).

Our GOD will not forget us. It is our responsibility to submit ourselves to Him, His will, and His ways.

We must wait on Him gladly. We quickly forget that not only is it our duty to wait on him, but our privilege to wait on His Majesty.

Would we really rather have things our way?  

Has not our way proved to be abject misery and shame, countless times before?

Would we rather have our foolish way than His who is Love, Mercy, and Wisdom?

Let us, as the dear children of God, wait on Him cheerfully.

We must wait on Him expectantly. He will do all that He has promised.
 
He will save us. He will remember us. He will destroy our enemies.
 
He will bring us to Himself. He will dispel the darkness.
 
He will accomplish His purpose for us and in us.
 
Let us wait on Him who cannot fail, with earnest expectation and lively hope.

We must wait on Him prayerfully. We must have our eyes perpetually fixed upon Him. 

Let us give ourselves to constant prayer, so that day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment - we are looking to Him for fresh supplies of mercy and grace to sustain us, strengthen us, and keep us to the end.

We must wait on Him with persistence and perseverance. We must be resolute and determined to wait on Him forever if needs be.

In His time, on His terms, when the time is best, right, and perfect - He will come and He will deliver us from all our sorrows, all our troubles, and all our fears.

Children of GOD our Savior will never leave us to ourselves!
 
He is with us always! He loved us! He chose us! He suffered, bled, and died for us!
 
He redeemed us with His own precious blood! He called us by His Spirit and gave us life from the dead!
 
He has staked His glory as GOD, upon our everlasting salvation!

He has promised to do us good, and to withhold no good thing from us!

How can we not faithfully, joyfully, and patiently wait on such a GOD as this?

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD! 

~Frank Hall~                                                 

Dwelling Safely Apart

Deu 33:28  Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.   

The more we dwell alone, the more safe shall we be. 

GOD would have His people separate from sinners, His call to them is, "Come ye OUT from among them."

A worldly Christian is spiritually diseased. 

Those who compromise with Christ's enemies may be reckoned with them.

Our safety lies, not in making terms with the enemy, but in dwelling alone with our Best Friend.

If we do this, we shall dwell in safety despite the sarcasms, the slanders, and the sneers of the world.

We shall be safe from the baleful influence of its unbelief, its pride, its vanity, its filthiness.

GOD also will make us dwell in safety alone in that day when sin shall be visited on the nations by wars and famines. 

The LORD brought Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, but Abram stopped halfway. 

He had no blessing till, having set out to go to the land of Canaan, to the land of Canaan he came, He was safe alone even in the midst of foes.

Lot was not safe in Sodom though in a circle of friends. 

Our safety is in dwelling apart with GOD. 

~~Charles Spurgeon~

Signs Of Being Ashamed Of Christ

1. Concealment

First, then, I wish to speak about its revelation, about the way in which this shame of Christ betrays itself: and the first feature that rises before me is concealment.

Is there any man or woman of whom you are ashamed? Think of them and call up their names while I am speaking.

Well, however else your shame may show itself, it will at least have this mark--you are ashamed to be seen with them in public.

In private, that is a different matter: you have no objection to meeting them in private.

In the pressure of a great crowd, that is a different matter, for any two may be cast together in a crowd. 

But when you are ashamed of a man you are ashamed of being openly seen with him, you are ashamed of walking in broad daylight through the streets with him; and as that is a feature of all shame between man and man, it is a mark of the man ashamed of Christ.

Remember we may be ashamed of Christ although in the quiet hour we pray in secret.

Remember we may be ashamed of Him although at the stated times we come to church.

For in the one case - in private prayer there is a solitude, and in other - in public worship is a crowd; and neither in solitude nor in the throng is the shame or glory of the heart detected.

It is as we walk through the streets of daily life; it is as we take up our task in homely scenes; it is as we go about our work and mingle with our friends - it is there that our heart's loyalty shall be seen.

If we honor Christ men will perceive the friendship. If we are ashamed of Him we shall conceal it.

2. Silence

The second feature of all shame is silence. There is a close and mysterious tie between the two.

The feeling of shame whenever it is operative has a way of putting a seal upon the lips.

A child will babble and prattle all day long, and spin out a history about its small adventures; but let it do anything of which it is ashamed, and not a word will it speak concerning that.

How many homes there are in which one son or daughter has come to disgrace, till the parents' hearts are breaking!

Does the stranger entering that home talk of the prodigal?

Is not that the one name that is never mentioned?

There are ceaseless yearnings and there are secret prayers rising to heaven daily for the wanderer; but mingling with every thought of him is shame, and one great witness of that shame is silence.

Now far be it from me even to suggest that all our silence about Christ is such.

There is a reserve which is dignified and right when we move among august and holy things.

Still, hours will come in every Christian life when confession is imperative and clearly called for, and if in such hours there be not speech but silence, the silence is the stamp and sign of shame.
     
3. Avoidance

The third witness of shame lies in avoidance. We avoid instinctively what we are ashamed of.

When an architect has designed a building of which he is proud, I can imagine his delight in looking at it.

I can imagine him going out of his way by half a dozen streets just to get one more glimpse of his conception.

But let the building be a failure, and the man ashamed of it - he is not eager to feast his eyes upon it. 

Now he does all in his power to avoid it, and he avoids it because he is ashamed.

I fancy that most of us know places such as that, for we are all the architects of our own fortunes: places that are disgraced for us by wretched memories, tarnished and desecrated by some sin; and we too, as we journey through the years, are glad to avoid such scenes, and we avoid them because we are ashamed. 

Avoidance is one sign and seal of shame. Can it be said of you that you are avoiding Christ?

If so, however you may explain it to yourself, depend upon it you are ashamed of Him.

~George H. Morrison~
     

Steady In Our Walk

In taking Christ in any new relationship, we must first have sufficient intellectual light to satisfy our mind that we are entitled to stand in this relationship. 

The Shadow of a Question here will Wreck our Confidence.

Then, having seen this, we must make the venture, the committal, the choice, and take the place just as definitely as the tree is planted in the soil, or the bride gives herself away at the marriage altar.

It must be once for all, without reserve, without recall. 

Then there is a season of establishing, settling and testing, during which we must "stay put" until the new relationship gets so fixed as to become a permanent habit.

It is just the same as when the surgeon sets the broken arm. He puts it in splints to keep it from vibration. So God has His spiritual splints that He wants to put upon His children and keep them quiet and unmoved until they pass the first stage of faith.

It is not always easy work for us, "but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered awhile, stablish, strengthen, settle you."

 ~A. B. Simpson~

There is a natural law in sin and sickness; and if we just let ourselves go and sink into the trend of circumstances, we shall go down and sink under the power of the tempter.

But there is another law of spiritual life and of physical life in Christ Jesus to which we can rise, and through which we can counterpoise and overcome the other law that bears us down.

But to do this requires real spiritual energy and fixed purpose and a settled posture and habit of faith. 

It is just the same as when we use the power in our factory. We must turn on the belt and keep it on. The power is there, but we must keep the connection; and while we do so, the higher power will work and all the machinery will be in operation.

There is a spiritual law of choosing, believing, abiding, and holding steady in our walk with God, which is essential to the working of the Holy Ghost either in our sanctification or healing.

~Days of Heaven upon Earth~

You Provoke GOD Thus To Give You Up To Your Heart's Lust!

Remember that it is one of the greatest plagues on this side hell, to be given up to our own desires, and that by your eagerness and discontents  "So I gave them up to their own heart's lust, and they walked in their own counsels:"

"Oh that my people had hearkened to me!" & Psalm. 81:12.  'Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts," & Rom. 1:24, 26. "For this cause God gave them up to vile affections," verse. 28. 

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, 2 Thess. 2:10-l2.

God may give you that which you so eagerly desire, as he gave "Israel a king, even in his anger," Hosea. 13:10,11.

Or as he gave the Israelites "their own desire, even flesh which he rained upon them as dust, and feathered fowls as the sand of the sea; they were not estranged from their lust but while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them," Psalm. 78:27, 29-31.

"They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert, and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls," Psalm. 106:14,15.

God may say, Follow your own lust, and if you are so eager, take that which you desire; take that person, that thing, that dignity which you are so earnest for; but take my curse and vengeance with it: never let it do you good, but be a snare and torment to you. 

"Let a fire come out of the bramble and devour you," Judges. 9:15.

~Richard Baxter~

Accessories To Adultery

Christians have long connected immodest clothing to sexual immorality.

Amazingly, that is challenged today. The person who points out the link between immorality and revealing clothing is sometimes thought to be expressing only his or her own personal weakness regarding sexual temptations.

The wearer of skimpy clothing (and the skimpy clothing itself) is not perceived to be the problem; rather, the problem allegedly rests with the person who protests the skimpy clothing.

This is the same argument that militant feminists have long made, an argument we now hear Christians making: women should be free to wear whatever they want and any resulting problems are due to vulgar men.

This silences appeals for modest clothing: he who makes such appeals is deemed to be shifting the blame for his own lust.

Thanks to socially acceptable immodesty, the person who challenges immodesty is accused of having a dirty mind.
 
But the old confessions and catechisms expose the emptiness of this contention.

Long before bikinis, Speedos, short shorts, and strapless dresses, Christians realized the essential connection between sexual immorality and immodest clothing.

Their comprehensive application of God’s Word regarding sexual purity and their serious pursuit of holiness led them to denounce immodest clothing.

The modern claim that no clothing is out-of-bounds for a Christian would have bewildered our spiritual forefathers…

This article is an appeal to obey the Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exo 20:14).

[It] requires the preservation of both our own and our neighbor’s sexual purity, a purity that should be displayed in our hearts as well as our behavior.

Negatively, the commandment forbids unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.

We violate it if our clothing expresses our own sexual lusts, promotes sexual immorality either in ourselves or in others, tacitly (if perhaps unintentionally) sanctions unchastity and lusting, or tempts others to indulge in sexual sins.

Are you an accessory to adultery?

Our legal system rightly recognizes that both murderers and accessories to murder are lawbreakers.

Similarly, both adulterers and accessories to adultery are guilty of breaking God’s Law.

If we wear clothing that encourages lust in someone else, then we are an accessory to lust.

That makes us accessories to sin regardless of our intentions.

The Christian cannot say, “I’m not trying to be sexually provocative with my clothing. I have no immoral motives. Therefore, my clothing is modest.”

I will go further. As a husband and father, I am the head of my household. When I allow my family members to wear clothing that contributes to someone else’s heart-level adultery, I am guilty of promoting sin.

This is one reason why both men and women must dress modestly.

Men can promote lust in women just as women can promote sexually immoral thoughts in men.

God’s Word speaks clearly to the issue of becoming an accessory to sin.

The Bible uses the phrase stumbling block [or offenses] where we usually use the word accessory.

What is a stumbling block? It is something that entices someone to sin.

In Matthew 18:7-9, Jesus said, “Woe unto the world because of offenses [stumbling blocks]! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!

Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire”…

In this passage, Jesus is primarily concerned that we examine ourselves and eliminate stumbling blocks that tempt us to sin.

But we can also create hindrances and obstacles for other people and woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

This concept applies to much more than clothing, but it certainly includes clothing.

Notice the extreme metaphors in this passage: Amputate your hand. Cut off your foot. Gouge out your eye.

Of course, Jesus is not sanctioning self-mutilation. He is using figurative language to make a point: take drastic action to avoid hurting yourself or others spiritually.

Do radical things to make sure obstacles do not hinder your pursuit of the Kingdom of God…Dressing modestly is a relatively small price.

I am stunned when I hear a Christian say, “If my clothing causes Greg to lust, that’s his problem.”

That attitude is simply unbiblical.

It is the same as saying, “I am not responsible for the moral stumbling blocks that I create with my clothing."

To be sure, Greg’s lust is his problem and is primarily his problem. But if your clothing makes you an accessory to lust-a stumbling block-then the Word of GOD says it has become your problem also.

The LORD Jesus Christ Himself pronounces condemnation upon those people who encourage others to sin: woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

1 Timothy 2:9 and Matthew 18:7-9: “A woman characterized by this attitude [that is, modesty] will dress so as not to be the source of any temptation…

A godly woman hates sin so much that she would avoid anything that would engender sin in anyone.

Better to be dead than lead another believer into sin!”

Why do some Christians dress so as to make themselves “lusting events”?

Often it is due to innocent ignorance. Many believers simply do not realize that other Christians are easily tempted to sin by immodest clothing.

This is especially true for Christian women: they often do not understand that many Christian men experience great anguish of soul as they fight with sexual temptation.

Without intending to, they wear clothing that is a stumbling block.

Be mindful that Christian men are saints, not angels! Sisters, please love your brothers enough to avoid tempting them to sin.

In other cases, however, the problem is not innocent ignorance; rath-er, it is unwillingness to honor GOD and love our neighbors with our clothing.

The Bible declares that the Christian’s body belongs to God, both by creation and by redemption (1Co 6:19-20).

Every square inch of a Christian’s life is to be lived under Christ’s Lordship and for GOD’s glory and this includes the Christian’s apparel. 

“I can dress any way I want to” is simply not something a Christian can say.
 
Please hear your LORD when He says that drastic action must be taken to minimize temptations and stumbling blocks. This is a command, not a suggestion. (See 1Co 8:9; 10:31-33.)

Dressing modestly is simply one result of a GODLY and unselfish concern for others’ well-being.

~Robert G. Spinney~

Honeyed Poison

O Sirs! in the grave it is all the same...to one who has had all, and to another who has had nothing.

What folly is it to lay up goods for many years, when we cannot lay up one day for the enjoyment of our goods!

Christ, who never miscalled any, calls him "fool!" who had much of the world in his hands - but nothing of God in his heart.

All this whole world is not proportionate to the precious soul. 

All the riches of the Indies cannot pacify conscience, nor secure eternity, nor prevent death, nor bring you off victorious in the day of judgment.

Therefore be contented with a little.
 
All the good things of this world, are but cold comforts. They cannot stretch to eternity, they will not go with us into the eternal world.

Therefore why should the lack of such things either trouble our thoughts or break our hearts?

The whole world is but a paradise for fools; a beautiful but deceitful harlot; a dreamed sweetness; a very ocean of gall.

There is nothing to be found in it, which has not mutability and uncertainty, vanity and vexation stamped upon it.

And therefore he cannot be truly happy who enjoys it; nor can he be miserable who lacks it.

And why then should not he be contented who has but a little of it?

The greatest outward happiness is but honeyed poison; and therefore do not mutter or murmur because you have but little of the world.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5.
 
~Thomas Brooks~

Have Nothing To Do With Them.

Psa 106: 35-36  But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.  And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

They mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs. They worshiped their idols, and this led to their downfall.

The 'carnal professors' of the day see nothing wrong, nothing amiss, nothing inconsistent in their conduct or spirit, though they are sunk in worldliness, carnality, or covetousness. 

But where there is divine life, where the blessed Spirit moves upon the heart with His sacred operations and secret influences, there will be light to see, and a conscience to feel, what is wrong, sinful, inconsistent, and improper.

It is but too evident that we cannot be mixed up with the professors of the day without drinking, in some measure, into their spirit and being more or less influenced by their example.

We can scarcely escape the influence of those with whom we come much and frequently into contact.

If they are dead, they will often benumb us with their corpse-like coldness.

If they are light and trifling, they will often entangle us in their carnal levity. 

If they are worldly and covetous, they may afford us a shelter and an excuse for our own worldliness and covetousness.

Abhor that loose profession, that ready compliance with everything which feeds the pride, worldliness, covetousness, and lusts of our depraved nature, which so stamps the present day with some of its most perilous and dreadful characters.

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. "Having a form of godliness but denying its power.
  
Have nothing to do with them.

~J. C. Philpot~

The Power Of Silence

 

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
 
Is there any note of music in all the chorus as mighty as the emphatic pause?

Is there any word in all the Psalter more eloquent than that one word, Selah (Pause)?

Is there anything more thrilling and awful than the hush that comes before the bursting of the tempest and the strange quiet that seems to fall upon all nature before some preternatural phenomenon or convulsion?

Is there anything that can touch our hearts as the power of stillness?

There is for the heart that will cease from itself, "the peace of God that passeth all understanding," a "quietness and confidence" which is the source of all strength, a sweet peace "which nothing can offend," a deep rest which the world can neither give nor take away.

There is in the deepest center of the soul a chamber of peace where God dwells, and where, if we will only enter in and hush every other sound, we can hear His still, small voice.

There is in the swiftest wheel that revolves upon its axis a place in the very center, where there is no movement at all; and so in the busiest life there may be a place where we dwell alone with God, in eternal stillness,

There is only one way to know God. "Be still, and know." "God is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him." 

~Selected~

All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired of starshine or moonlight or sunrise.

The sullen blackness gloomed above us as if it would last forever.

And out of the dark there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts.

We would gladly have welcomed some wild thunder peal to break the torturing stillness of that over-brooding night.

But Thy winsome whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across Aeolian harps.

It was Thy 'still small voice' that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard.

We looked and saw Thy face radiant with the light of love. And when we heard Thy voice and saw Thy face, new life came back to us as life comes back to withered blooms that drink the summer rain."

Song Of Confidence

Psa 138:7  Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.  

Wretched walking in the midst of trouble. Nay, blessed walking, since there is a special promise for it. 

Give me a promise, and what is the trouble? What doth my LORD teach me here to say? Why this... Thou wilt revive me.

I shall have more life, more energy, more faith. Is it not often so, that trouble revives us, like a breath of cold air when one is ready to faint?

How angry are my enemies and especially the archenemy!

Shall I stretch forth my hand and fight my foes! No, my hand is better employed in doing service for my LORD.

Besides, there is no need, for my God will use His far-reaching arm, and He will deal with them far better than I could if I were to try.

Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the LORD. He will with His own right hand of power and wisdom save me, and what more can I desire?

Come, my heart, talk this promise over to thyself till thou canst use it as the song of thy confidence, the solace of thy holiness. 

Pray to be revived thyself and leave the rest with the LORD, who performeth all things for thee. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Quicken Us

Psa 71:20  Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.  

God shows us the troubles. Sometimes, as this part of our education is being carried forward, we have to descend into "the lower parts of the earth," pass through subterranean passages, lie buried amongst the dead, but never for a moment is the cord of fellowship and union between God and us strained to breaking; and from the depths God will bring us again.

Never doubt God! Never say that He has forsaken or forgotten. 
Never think that He is unsympathetic. He will quicken again. 

There is always a smooth piece in every skein, however tangled. The longest day at last rings out the evensong. The winter snow lies long, but it goes at last.

Be steadfast; your labor is not in vain. God turns again, and comforts. And when He does, the heart which had forgotten its Psalmody breaks out in jubilant song, as does the Psalmist: "I will thank thee, I will harp unto thee, my lips shall sing aloud." 

~Selected~

Though the rain may fall and the wind be blowing, And old and chill is the wintry blast; Though the cloudy sky is still cloudier growing, And the dead leaves tell that the summer has passed;

My face I hold to the stormy heaven, My heart is as calm as the summer sea, Glad to receive what my God has given, Whate'er it be.

When I feel the cold, I can say, 'He sends it,' And His winds blow blessing, I surely know; 

For I've never a want but that He attends it, And my heart beats warm, though the winds may blow."

For Ye Are Dead And Your Life Is Hid With Christ In GOD

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Now, this definite, absolute and final putting off of ourselves in an act of death, is something we cannot do ourselves.

It is not self-mortifying, but it is dying with Christ.

There is nothing can do it but the Cross of Christ and the Spirit of God.

The church is full of half dead people who have been trying, like poor Nero, to slay themselves for years, and have not had the courage to strike the fatal blow.

Oh, if they would just put themselves at Jesus' feet, and let Him do it, there would be accomplishment and rest.

On that cross He has provided for our death as well as our life, and our part is just to let His death be applied to our nature just as it has been to our old sins, and then leave it with Him, think no more about it, and count it dead,

Not recognizing it any longer as ourselves, but another, refusing to listen or fear it, to be identified with it, or even try to cleanse it,

But counting it utterly in His hands, and dead to us forever, and for all our new life depending on Him at every breath, as a babe just born depends upon its mother's life.

~A. B. Simpson~