Every Man's Work Will Be Tried In The Fire!

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

I have no doubt that you love the Lord.

I am not raising any question about that. 

But, I do say again, we are involved in a great system which is a very complicated thing...

And a great deal of it is not of the Lord.

It is something that man has brought in. 

Man has put his hand upon the things of the Lord...

And man has made things according to his own mind...

And therefore a great deal has come in which is of man and not of the Lord. 

And when we say that, we are not only thinking of Christianity in general, we are thinking of ourselves.

This is true of ourselves. 

We have all come into something called Christianity...

And we have all taken on something of Christianity...

And there may be a great deal that we have to get rid of...

And come back to the simple fundamental reality. 

And the fundamental reality of all realities is the Presence Of The LORD. 

We have got to know that the Lord is with us...

And that the Lord is with us in all that we do...

That this did not originate in our mind. 

It did not originate in our will, it did not originate in our emotion.

It did not come from our soul, this thing has come from the Lord in every detail, like the tabernacle. 

Just like Jesus Christ, in every detail it has to come to us from God.

That ought to send us back to our knees – to go through all our work. 

It may be necessary for us, from time to time, to stand back and ask the Lord about all that we are doing...

Is this out from God, or is it something out from ourselves?

Is this way of doing things the mind of God, or is it our mind?

Is the Lord in this, or have we come into it?

You see, that is a great deciding matter. 

Make no mistake about it! 

Everything that is only of man is going to perish. 

Sooner or later it will be shaken.

Every man's work shall be tried in the fire, says the Word of God.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The King's Highway

Isa 35:8  And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 

The way of holiness is so straight and plain that the simplest minds cannot go astray if they constantly follow it. 

The worldly wise have many twists and turns, and yet they make terrible blunders and generally miss their end. 

Worldly policy is a poor, shortsighted thing, and when men choose it as their road, it leads them over dark mountains. 

Gracious minds know no better than to do as the LORD bids them...

But this keeps them in the King's highway and under royal protection.

Let the reader never for a moment attempt to help himself out of a difficulty by a falsehood or by a questionable act...

But let him keep in the middle of the high road of truth and integrity, and he will be following the best possible course. 

In our lives we must never practice circular sailing nor dream of shuffling. 

Be just and fear not, Follow Jesus and heed no evil consequences. 

If the worst of ills could be avoided by wrongdoing, we should, in the very attempt, have fallen into an evil worse than any other ill could be. 

God's way must be the very best way. 

Follow it though men think you a fool, and you will be truly wise.

LORD, lead Thy servants in a plain path because of their enemies.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Have Faith In GOD!

Mark 11:22  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the road of the commandments. 

Love can make the feet move more swiftly; but faith is the foot which carries the soul. 

Faith is the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well...

And without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot, and we drag heavily. 

With faith I can do all things...

Without faith I shall neither have the inclination nor the power to do anything in the service of God.

If you would find the men who serve God the best, you must look for the men of the most faith. 

Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great things for God. 

Poor Little-faith could not have fought "Apollyon;" it needed "Christian" to do that. 

Poor Little-faith could not have slain "Giant Despair;" it required "Great-heart's" arm to knock that monster down. 

Little faith will go to heaven most certainly, but it often has to hide itself in a nut-shell, and it frequently loses all but its jewels. 

Little-faith says, "It is a rough road, beset with sharp thorns, and full of dangers; I am afraid to go;"... 

But Great-faith remembers the promise, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; as thy days, so shall thy strength be:"

And so she boldly ventures. Little-faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the flood...

But Great-faith sings, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:" and she fords the stream at once.

Would you be comfortable and happy?

Would you enjoy religion? 

Would you have the religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom?...

Then "have faith in God." 

If you love darkness, and are satisfied to dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith...

But if you love the sunshine, and would sing songs of rejoicing, covet earnestly this best gift, "great faith."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Giving Without A Whisper

Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

No promise is made to those who give to the poor to be seen of men.
 
They have their reward at once and cannot expect to be paid twice.

Let us hide away our charity...

Yes, hide it even from ourselves.
 
Give so often and so much as a matter of course that you no more take note that you have helped the poor than that you have eaten your regular meals.

Do your alms without even whispering to yourself, How generous I am!

Do not thus attempt to reward yourself.

Leave the matter with God, who never fails to see, to record, and to reward.

Blessed is the man who is busy in secret with his kindness...

He finds a special joy in his unknown benevolences.

This is the bread, which eaten by stealth, is sweeter than the banquets of kings.

How can I indulge myself today with this delightful luxury?

Let me have a real feast of tenderness and Row of soul.

Here and hereafter the LORD Himself will personally see to the rewarding of the secret giver of alms.

This will be in His own way and time...

And He will choose the very best.
 
How much this promise means it will need eternity to reveal.

~Charles Spurgeon~

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~

Our Difficulties Are But GOD'S Challenges!

2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
     
How did God bring about the miracle of the Red Sea?

By shutting His people in on every side, so that there was no way out but the divine way.

The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them, the mountains were on every side of them.

There was no escape but from above.
     
Some one has said that the devil can wall us in, but he cannot roof us over.

We can always get out at the top.

Our difficulties are but God's challenges, and He makes them so hard, often, that we must go under or get above them.
     
In such an hour, if there is a divine element, it brings out the highest possibilities of faith and we are pushed by the very emergency into God's best.
     
Beloved, this is God's hour.

If you will rise to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him that you will never be in extremities again, or if you are, you will learn to call them not extremities, but opportunities...

And like Jacob, you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no longer Jacob, but victorious Israel.

Let us bring to Him our need and prove Him true.

~A. B. Simpson~

Is Jesus Your Only Life?

Yes, He wants disciples to whom He is the only life, not just life and something else. 

There are whole multitudes of disciples who want Christ and something else, to whom Christ is not all-sufficient, the only life...

And the Lord is going to sift out this large body who carry the name of 'disciples'. 

He has always done it.

He did it in New Testament times. 

The mighty persecutions which came upon the early Church were His means of sifting out...

And through the ages He has done this thing by many means. 

He is doing it in the world today. 

Oh, what a tremendous sifting is going on amongst Christians! 

It is already beginning in the east and is going to develop in the west...

The western world is not going to escape this. 

The great multitudes who may call themselves by the name of Christ's disciples are going to be found out. 

Let us be quite clear and certain on this point. 

If Christ is not our only life we are going out...

For sooner or later we shall not be able to stand up to the test.
 
~ T. Austin Sparks ~

A Man Without Fear

Exodus 3:12  And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Of course, if the LORD sent Moses on an errand, He would not let him go alone. 

The tremendous risk which it would involve and the great power it would require would render it ridiculous for God to send a poor lone Hebrew to confront the mightiest king in all the world and then leave him to himself.

It could not be imagined that a wise God would match poor Moses with Pharaoh and the enormous forces of Egypt. 

Hence He says, "Certainly I will be with thee," as if it were out of the question that He would send him alone.

In my case, also, the same rule will hold good. 

If I go upon the LORD's errand with a simple reliance upon His power and a single eye to His glory, it is certain that He will be with me. 

His sending me binds Him to back me up. 

Is not this enough? 

What more can I want? 

If all the angels and arch- angels were with me. I might fail; but if He is with me, I must succeed. 

Only let me take care that I act worthily toward this promise. 

Let me not go timidly, halfheartedly, carelessly, presumptuously. 

What manner of person ought he to be who has God with him! 

In such company it behoveth me to play the man and, like Moses, go in unto Pharaoh without fear.

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Wonderful Guarantee

Isa 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
 
When called to serve or to suffer, we take stock of our strength, and we find it to be less than we thought and less than we need. 

But let not our heart sink within us while we have such a word as this to fall back upon, for it guarantees us all that we can possibly need. 

God has strength omnipotent; that strength He can communicate to us; and His promise is that He will do so. 

He will be the food of our souls and the health of our hearts; and thus He will give us strength. 

There is no telling how much power God can put into a man. 

When divine strength comes, human weakness is no more a hindrance.
 
Do we not remember seasons of labor and trial in which we received such special strength that we wondered at ourselves?

In the midst of danger we were calm

Under bereavement we were resigned...

In slander we were self-contained...

And in sickness we were patient. 

The fact is that God gives unexpected strength when unusual trials come upon us, We rise out of our feeble selves. 

Cowards play the man...

Foolish ones have wisdom given them...

And the silent receive in the self-same hour what they shall speak.

My own weakness makes me shrink, but God's promise makes me brave.

LORD, strengthen me "according to thy word."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Don't Be Ensnared By The Flesh Or The Devil!

The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time...

If she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage...

And settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. 

The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory...

It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. 

Am I always to be mortified? 

Am I never to be indulged? 

Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare.

Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance... 

It will be the mark for all his arrows.

He will strive to hinder you in service: 

He will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. 

He will endeavor to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, “Curse God, and die.”

Or he will attack your steadfastness: “What is the good of being so zealous?

Be quiet like the rest...

Sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do.

Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: “Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? 

Sensible men are getting more liberal...

They are removing the old landmarks: 

Fall in with the times.

Wear your shield, Christian

Therefore, close upon your armor...

And cry mightily unto God, that by his Spirit you may endure to the end.

~Charles Spurgeon

Are You A Hypocrite?

Job 8:11  Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no substance or stability in him.

It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence...

For this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution.

I would not willingly be a deceiver or be deceived...

Perhaps the text for this day may help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. 

The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root...

Let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. 

Its greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances...

A present abundance of water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. 

Is this my case? 

Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? 

Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from His hands?

If so I am a base hypocrite...

And like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys.

But can I honestly assert that when bodily comforts have been few...

And my surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all helpful to it...

I have still held fast my integrity?

Then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. 

The rush cannot grow without mire...

But plants of the Lord's right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. 

A godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay. 

He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas...

They who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil...

But they who attend Him out of love to Himself are His own beloved ones. 

Lord, let me find my life in Thee, and not in the mire of this world's favor or gain.

~Charles Spurgeon~