"I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil" (John xvii. 15).

  
Days of Heaven Upon Earth

      "I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil" (John xvii. 15).
     
      He wants us here for some higher purpose than mere existence. That purpose is nothing else than to represent Him to the world, to be the messengers of His Gospel and His will to men, and by our lives to exhibit to them the true life, and teach them how to live it themselves.
     
      He is representing us yonder, and our one business is to represent Him here. We are just as truly sent into this world to represent Him as if we had gone to China as the ambassador of the American Government.
     
      While engaged in the secular affairs of life, it is simply that we may represent Him there, carry on His business, and have means to use for His affairs. He came here from another realm, and with a special message, and when His work was done He was called to go home to His Father's dwelling-place and His own.
     
      Lord, help me to worthily represent Thee.  

   
      And carry music in our heart
          Through busy street and wrangling mart;
      Plying our daily task with busier feet,
          Because our souls a heavenly strain repeat.

HIS OWN MEDICINE

By Watchman Nee

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HIS OWN MEDICINE

When we begin to look at Jacob the man, we discover how strikingly his history is like our own. Before God has begun to deal with us we are inclined to take a rather superior attitude to Jacob, and judge him as self-willed and irresponsible. But when we begin to recognize the flesh in ourselves and our own weakness and sinfulness and self-will, then it is that we see Jacob in ourselves. And when we come to the last seventeen years of his life, and watch his words and his whole demeanour, we must praise God's grace in the man. It is hard to find any in the Old Testament with an end like his. It can move us to tears to see how wondrously God has worked in him and how grace has led him to a place of usefulness. A seemingly hopeless man has been made into a most useful vessel for God's purpose.

Yet the whole of this fruitfulness in Jacob was the result of God's discipline of him. God touched his natural strength, and as a result he became in due course a vessel unto honour. It is as the Spirit disciplines us that He works Christ into us; they are not two separate works. The life of Christ is wrought into the character of the disciple, and fruit is born naturally, spontaneously. So we have much to learn from Jacob.

We can recognize four stages in Jacob's life. First, the man Jacob as he was (Genesis 25-27). Secondly, his testing and discipline through circumstances (28-3I). Thirdly, the dislocation of his natural life (32-36). Fourthly, the `peaceable fruit' (37-50).

We begin by looking at the character of Jacob the man. By natural instinct Jacob was a fighter from birth (Genesis 25.22-26).How different he was from Isaac! Isaac did nothing; he accepted and received everything. Jacob from beginning to end is a schemer, clever, wily, confident that he can do anything. How is God going to bring such a man to the place of being a vessel for His purpose?

It was not just that what he did was wrong; he himself, from before his birth, was a man unsuitable to God by nature. Oh yes, He desired the will of God. He wanted Esau to hold back and allow him, Jacob, to be the eldest; and when that did not happen he would use every device, every stratagem to make good the disadvantage. That was Jacob! Of what use to God was such a man?

We cannot give a rational answer to that question. Only the grace of God can account for His choice of this one. `For the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto (Rebekah), The elder shall serve the younger. Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated' (Romans 9. 1113). The election of God is the only explanation; there is no other. God wanted to choose a man. We must believe in the choice of God. If He has begun a good work in us He will not leave it half done. He is the First and the Last. The work He has started to do in us He will finish. If we trust to the election of God, we can rest in Him.

If you are inclined to say, `I am so difficult for God to deal with,' then put your trust in Jacob's God. Jacob did not choose God first; God chose Jacob. Before his birth He chose him, and the same is true of us. Recognize God's elective grace, and we shall be freed from anxiety.

It was the will of God that Jacob should rule. Jacob had discovered that. He learned of God's plan and recognized its true importance, and that it involved him and not his brother. He saw God's election and God's purpose, but he wanted to make sure of it for himself. So in their youth, when Esau returned one day from hunting, Jacob bargained with him for his birthright. `Let me be the elder, and you shall be the younger,' he declared (Genesis 25. 29-34). His motive was right, but he used his own wits to get what God fully intended to give him.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me" (Ps. 138:7).

  
Streams in the Desert

Thou Wilt Revive Me     
      "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me" (Ps. 138:7).
     
      The Hebrew rendering of the above is "go on in the center of trouble." What descriptive words! We have called on God in the day of trouble; we have pleaded His promise of deliverance but no deliverance has been given; the enemy has continued oppressing until we were in the very thick of the fight, in the center of trouble. Why then trouble the Master any further?
     
      When Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died," our Lord met her lack of hope with His further promise, "Thy brother shall rise again." And when we walk "in the center of trouble" and are tempted to think like Martha that the time of deliverance is past, He meets us too with a promise from His Word. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me."
     
      Though His answer has so long delayed, though we may still continue to "go on" in the midst of trouble, "the center of trouble" is the place where He revives, not the place where He fails us.
     
      When in the hopeless place, the continued hopeless place, is the very time when He will stretch forth His hand against the wrath of our enemies and perfect that which concerneth us, the very time when He will make the attack to cease and fail and come to an end. What occasion is there then for fainting? --Aphra White
     
      THE EYE OF THE STORM
      
      "Fear not that the whirlwind shall carry thee hence,
      Nor wait for its onslaught in breathless suspense,
      Nor shrink from the whips of the terrible hail,
      But pass through the edge to the heart of the gale,
      For there is a shelter, sunlighted and warm,
      And Faith sees her God through the eye of the storm.
     
      "The passionate tempest with rush and wild roar
      And threatenings of evil may beat on the shore,
      The waves may be mountains, the fields battle plains,
      And the earth be immersed in a deluge of rains,
      Yet, the soul, stayed on God, may sing bravely its psalm,
      For the heart of the storm is the center of calm.     
     
      "Let hope be not quenched in the blackness of night,
      Though the cyclone awhile may have blotted the light,
      For behind the great darkness the stars ever shine,
      And the light of God's heavens, His love shall make thine,
      Let no gloom dim thine eyes, but uplif t them on high
      To the face of thy God and the blue of His sky.
     
      "The storm is thy shelter from danger and sin,
      And God Himself takes thee for safety within;
      The tempest with Him passeth into deep calm,
      And the roar of the winds is the sound of a psalm.
      Be glad and serene when the tempest clouds form;
      God smiles on His child in the eye of the Storm".

"That God would fulfil in you all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power" (II. Thess. i. 11).

  
Days of Heaven Upon Earth
devotionals.ochristian.com

      "That God would fulfil in you all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power" (II. Thess. i. 11).
     
      Our God is looking to-day for pattern men, and when He gets a true sample, it is very easy to reproduce it in a thousand editions, and multiply it in other lives without limitation.
     
      All the experiences of life come to us as tests, and as we meet them, our loving Father is watching with intense and jealous love, to see us overcome, and if we fail He is deeply disappointed, and our adversary is filled with joy.
     
      We are a gazing-stock continually for angels and principalities, and every step we take is critical and decisive for something in our eternal future.
     
      When Abraham went forth that morning to Mount Moriah, it was an hour of solemn probation, and when he came back he was one of God's tested men, with the stamp of His eternal approbation. God could say, "I know him, that he will do judgment and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that He hath spoken."
     
      God is looking for such men to-day. Lord, help me to be such an one.

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." Ecclesiastes 7:8

  


J. C. Philpot - Daily Portions



"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." Ecclesiastes 7:8

Thus saith the wise man, and it is often true in natural things, but invariably so in divine. Rarely at first can we foresee what will be the issue of any matter which we take in hand. We may begin it with much hope, and find in the end those hopes sadly disappointed. We may begin it with much fear, and find from the event those fears utterly groundless. Whatever we take in hand it is very rare that our expectations are fully carried out, for we have again and again to learn that "man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps," and that there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that and that only, shall stand. But so far as we are amongst the family of God, and as such are under especial guidance and divine teaching and leading, whether our first expectations are accomplished or not, the end stamps wisdom and goodness upon all the dealings of God with us both in providence and in grace. 

However chequered his path has been; however, as Job speaks, his purposes have been broken off, even the thoughts of his heart; however when he looked for good, then evil came unto him, and when he waited for light there came darkness; whatever bitter things God seemed to write against him when he made him to possess the sins of his youth, yet sooner or later every child of God will be able to say, "O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee!" and this will embolden him to add, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, as they have already followed me, all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" Hebrews 10:31

Treasures from Tozer!

(A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963)

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" Hebrews 10:31 

"For our God is a consuming fire!" Hebrews 12:29 

The vague and flimsy hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly, has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.

"Behold then the kindness and severity of God. To those who fell, severity — but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off!" Romans 11:22 

  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

"Fear not, I will uphold you!" Isaiah 41:10

Fear Not!
George Mylne, 1854

"Fear not, I will uphold you!" Isaiah 41:10

Reader, are your footsteps ready to slip? Has your prayer been, "Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip." (Psalm 17:5.) How precious then the promise, "I will uphold you!" 

You find by experience that you must have grace for every moment — more grace — fresh grace — abounding grace. The battle of yesterday, must be fought again today. The race of today, must be run again tomorrow. Fellow-pilgrim, there is no rest for you while here in this poor world! You must fight, and fight again; run, and run again — looking to Jesus. Fear not! God will uphold you. He will uphold you according to His word. (Psalm 51:12, 119:118.) 

Has the enemy prevailed against you? Are you smarting from your wounds? Ah, my friend, the enemy will never cease to harass you, nor your heart to mislead you, while you are in this sinful world. Temptation will follow temptation; snare will follow snare. But, fear not! God shall uphold you!

Grace shall flow to you from the wounds of Jesus; from the heart of Jesus; from the glory of Jesus. Out of His fullness, shall you receive grace upon grace. (John 1:16.) 
Grace to fight; 
grace to run; 
grace to persevere; 
grace to conquer! 

Fear not, fellow-pilgrim! The hand that laid the foundation of the earth — the hand that spanned the heavens — is pledged to uphold you!

Fear not! "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" — not to uphold you in your own strength; but that God may be glorified in His eternal purpose, and in His free grace. Fear not, fellow-sinner! God has promised. He will not leave you to run alone, nor to fight alone. Wait upon Him, and He will renew your strength. 
If His Word could fail — then He may forsake you. 
If His love could cease — then He forget may you. 
If His covenant could be broken — then He may not uphold you. 
But this cannot be! "Fear not, I will uphold you!"


  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

"Filled with the Holy Spirit"

Elijah 20 - "Filled with the Holy Spirit"
By F.B. Meyer


What may not one man do in one brief life, if he is willing to be simply a living conduit-pipe through which the power of God may descend to men? There is no limit to the possible usefulness of such a life. There is, on the one hand, the oceanic fullness of God; on the other, the awful need and desolation of man; guilty, weak, bankrupt, diseased: all that is required is a channel of communication between the two. When that channel is made and opened and kept free from the silting sand, there will ensue one great, plenteous, and equable flow of power carrying the fullness of God to the weary emptiness of man.

There is a splendid illustration in the life of Elijah, of which we are now taking our farewell. For more than a hundred years the tide had been running strongly against the truth of God. Idolatry had passed from the worship of Jereboam's calves to that of Baal and Astarte, with the licentious orgies and hideous rites which gathered around the ancient worship of the forces of nature. The system was maintained by an immense organization of wily priests who had settled down upon the national life like a fungus growth, striking its roots into the heart. The court was in its favor. The throne {184} was occupied by a decadent man, the weak tool of his unscrupulous and beautiful wife -- the Lady Macbeth of Jewish history. Jehovah's altars were thrown down, His prophets silenced and in hiding, His faithful worshipers a mere handful whose existence was so secret as to be known only to Him. The lamp of truth had been overturned, and there was only a tiny spark of light feebly burning to show where once the light of true religion brightly shone.

Into such a state of things Elijah came, unarmed, from his native trans-Jordanic hills; a highlander, unkempt, unpolished, unaccustomed to the manners of a court or the learning of the schools. Withal, a man weak where we are weak, tempted where we are tempted, of like passions with ourselves. And at once the tide began to turn. The progress of idolatry received a decisive check. The existence and power of Jehovah were vindicated. New courage was infused into the timid remnant of true- hearted disciples. Altars were rebuilt, colleges were opened for the training of the godly youth, a successor was appointed, and an impetus given to the cause of truth, which was felt for many generations.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to Elijah's power with his contemporaries is in the fact that his name and work stood out in bold and clear outline for nine hundred years after his death, surpassing the whole school of Jewish prophets, as the Jungfrau rears her snowclad peaks above the giants of her chain; and furnishing a model with which to set forth the power and courage of the forerunner of our Lord. The Holy Spirit, speaking in Malachi, the last of the prophets, could find no better symbol of John the Baptist than to compare him with the famous prophet who, centuries before, had swept to heaven in the chariot of flame: "Behold, I will send you {185} Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the LORD" (Malachi 4:5). The bright angel Gabriel, standing, four hundred years after, amid the ascending incense of the holy place, found no easier method of conveying to the aged priest the type of the wondrous son that was to gladden his old age, than to liken him to Elijah: "He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias" (Luke 1:17).

Whenever a notable religious movement was stirring through the land, the people were accustomed to think that the prophet of Carmel had again returned to earth; and thus the deputation asked John the Baptist, saying, "Art thou Elijah?" and when a mightier than John had set all men musing in their hearts, as the disciples told our Lord, many of the common people believed that the long expectation of centuries was realized, and that Elijah was risen again. It was commonly believed that no other born of a woman was great enough to precede the Messiah, and that he would anticipate His advent by an interval of three days, during which he should proclaim, in a voice heard over all the earth, peace, happiness, and salvation.

All these things are evidences of the towering greatness of Elijah's character and work. With all the failures and mistakes to which such natures are prone, he was a great man and did a noble work. And the secret of all was to be found not in any intrinsic qualities, but in the fact that he was filled with the Holy Ghost. Let us pause here and ask ourselves if we can give our thoughtful assent to this statement. If we cannot, we must count much of our time and labor in these chapters wasted, for our one aim has been to establish this point. But if we can, then, as we close these chapters of stirring sacred biography, we may resolve that we will never rest until {186} we too are filled with the Holy Ghost. We will not rest satisfied in being imitators merely, but we will seek to be filled with the same Spirit, that He may work again through us the marvels of the past.

If I may venture so to put it, God is in extremity for men who, thoughtless for themselves, will desire only to be receivers and channels of His power. He will take young men and women, old men and children, servants and handmaidens in the waning days of this era and will fill them with the selfsame Spirit whose power was once reserved for a favored few. Besides all this, the positive command has never been repealed which bids us be "filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). And we cannot reiterate too often that those who feel themselves bound to strict temperance in respect to wine by the former clause, should feel the latter one to be equally imperative. Moreover, what God commands, He is prepared to do all that is needful on His side to effect. Then when, like John the Baptist, we are filled with the Holy Ghost, like John the Baptist we "shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17).

THIS FILLING OF THE HOLY GHOST WAS
THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CHURCH

Equipment for the Ministry

By T. Austin-Sparks


"And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent... but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" (Exodus 4:10).

"And the Lord... said go, and thou shalt save Israel... And he (Gideon) said, Oh, my Lord... behold... I am the least in my father's house" (Judges 6:14-15).

"Then said I, woe is me! for I am undone... And he (the Lord) said, Go..." (Isaiah 6:5,9).

"Then said I, Ah! Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child... The Lord said... Thou shalt go..." (Jeremiah 1:6-7).

"I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son... And the Lord took me... and said unto me, Go..." (Amos 7:14-15).

"And he appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth" (Mark 3:14).

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8).


The last words quoted above are the answer to all the others. Although Pentecost marked a new epoch and method of the Holy Spirit's activity, yet throughout all time God's Work has been done through the Spirit's agency. Were we asked what is the essential and indispensable equipment for the work of God we would say unhesitatingly; The anointing and filling with the Holy Spirit!

In the instances cited above we have men of vastly different types, but they are all brought to a common basis. Moses was a man of tremendous natural and acquired ability. There was initiative, drive, passion, devotion and courage on the emotional and volitional side, linked with "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" on the intellectual side, and evidently considerable strength on the physical. Isaiah and Jeremiah were not without a wealthy endowment of inherited social, religious, and ecclesiastical advantages and good training. Then what need we say about Paul on this side? On the other hand, Gideon, Amos and most of the Apostles were of humble and simple birth, meagre education, and few worldly advantages. Of the latter it is recorded that "they were ignorant and unlearned men". All these, we have said, had to be brought to a common basis. Through painful and sometimes long drawn-out discipline and trial the former had to come to the place where they recognized that only God could do His own work, and that He never uses any man or his natural equipment except on the ground of an utter dependence upon Him: that gifts, training, ability as such do not count with God and are only of service when the man has been translated from a natural ground to a spiritual through the deep inworking of the Cross in its principles and laws. Nothing but spiritual endowments can meet spiritual forces, and this is the background of all the work of God.

God may use the gifts with which He has entrusted men by nature or acquisition, but not until they have been brought through death on the natural plane to life on the spiritual. Moses went that way; Paul went that way; and so have all who have really been used of God for Spiritual and Eternal ends; that is, if the worker as well as the work was to be accepted.

No one will think that we are against all-round training and equipment. Far be it from us to suggest that this is of no vital consequence. What we are emphasizing is that though given every possible natural or acquired endowment, education, natural ability, zeal, evangelical faith and doctrine, a knowledge of Christian work, etc., there may yet remain an essential without which all this is going to fail. This superlative factor is: "filled with the Holy Spirit".

On the other hand, a Spirit-filled man is never one who holds a brief for ignorance or despises and neglects such acquisitions of knowledge as will be ground upon which the Lord may work. It is one of the romances of the Spirit's activity that under His stimulation and quickening many of the most illiterate have become able and eager to master things for which they had neither desire nor ability before.

Now these simple basic things lead us on further. The Lord Jesus as


THE MODEL SERVANT

declared: 'I do nothing of myself; as I hear I speak.' 'The words that I speak, I speak not from myself.' 'The works that I do, I do not from myself.' Here is even a sinless "myself" refusing to speak His own words or do His own works. He was deliberately hanging and drawing upon the Father for everything. It is clear that He realized that even in His own sinless case this was necessary, and to do otherwise was to lay His mission open to infinite peril from without. Thus it was an utterness of God. For such an utterness - which, let us urge, must characterize all who are to most closely approximate to God's ideal servant - there must somewhere at some time be a zero point on man's side. This zero point is clearly seen in the life and ministry of so many of the Lord's servants - the time when despair of everything well-nigh engulfed them, and 'God was their only asset'.

This is to follow the Lamb wherever He goes

(William Dyer, "Follow the Lamb")

"These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes!" Revelation 14:4

A believer follows the Lamb TRULY, without hypocrisy. Many follow the Lamb, as beggars follow a rich man — only for his money. They prize the wages of religion — above the works of religion! "I tell you the truth, you are looking for Me . . . because you ate the loaves and had your fill!" John 6:26. Oh, beloved, God abhors a hypocrite more than a Sodomite! Hell is provided on purpose for hypocrites, "He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Matthew 24:51

My beloved, following the Lamb fully, is to have the heart fixed and resolved for God, "My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You!" says David in Psalm 63:8. "As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. I thirst for God, the living God!" Psalm 42:1-2

A believer follows the Lamb CONSTANTLY, without apostasy. A true believer never stops following the Lamb.

He does not follow the Lamb wherever He goes — who follows the Lamb earnestly for a while — but afterwards forsakes Him, when the storm arises! "Since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word — he quickly falls away!" Matthew 13:21

He does not follow the Lamb wherever He goes — who follows the Lamb in some things, and the Beast in other things! "They worshiped the Lord — but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought." 2 Kings 17:33

He does not follow the Lamb wherever He goes — who follows the Lord in a dull heavy manner, and lukewarm temper. "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth!" Revelation 3:15-16. Oh! this is not following the Lamb!

Those who follow the Lamb — abide in the Lamb, and cleave to the Lamb, and continue constantly in the Lamb's ways, unto the end of their days. "Yet the righteous person will hold to his way!" Job 17:9. The righteous man follows the Lamb wherever He goes. "Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him!" Hosea 6:3

This is to follow the Lamb wherever He goes:
1. Speedily
2. Sincerely
3. Whole-heartedly
4. Zealously
5. Humbly
6. Cheerfully
7. Diligently
8. Constantly
9. Faithfully
10. Supremely

   ~  ~  ~  ~

I must take off my earthly garments, and put on my sacred dress

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Once the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the public area." Ezekiel 42:14

The priests which Ezekiel mentions, take great discipline and preparation to please God. In compliance with His command, they clothe themselves in holy robes of the fairest linen. They make ready for drawing near His holy Presence.

Just so, I must be willing to take time and effort in my worship. Every day, I must pass into my sacred shrine to be with God. With a set purpose, I must take off my earthly garments, and put on my sacred dress.
I have to hush myself into quietness.
I have to beseech the Holy Spirit for His empowerment.
I have to steadfastly study the majesty, the purity, and the grace of the God to Whom I come.
Much mental concentration is required of me.
A sincere and honest heart is also required.
I am called to earnest contemplation and prayer.

When the service of the priests is over in the inner sanctuary, they divest themselves of the robes of whiteness in which they stood before the Lord. They do not show themselves to the people in a garb so venerable. God keeps something to Himself, something which shall be known only to His servants and to Him.

Just so, I cannot disclose everything in my secret place with others. There are heights and depths in the truth I am being taught, in the mercy I have received — which I do not yet comprehend, and over which I shall have to ponder all my life long.

And I ought not to disclose everything. To unveil my most sublime spiritual experiences, will injure me.
It would lessen humility, and foster pride.
It would rub the delicate bloom from off my character.
It would make my secret place a beaten path.
My sanctuary clothing is not for the public outer court.

Yet mine is a God who is never distant and inaccessible. The priests of old, left the shrine and went out into the world. But the Lord abides in the Holy Place still. We need only to return, and to clothe themselves anew in our holy vestments, and we will find Him the same as before — a God . . .
   Who rejoices to hear our cry,
   Who delights in our sincere, yet poor and disappointing services,
   Who will lift up His countenance on us and give us peace.

When I call upon Him, withdrawing myself from all others and all else — He is near as my strong Refuge and and my ever-present Help in times of trouble. The doors of His Holy Place are never barred; and, within the doors, His gracious welcome awaits me.

May He be the Temple that is the dearest spot on earth to me.
May I be priest to serve Him day and night!

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty!" Psalm 91:1

   ~  ~  ~  ~

God at work!

(James Smith, "Nothing Too Hard for God!" 1864)

"There is nothing too hard for You!" Jeremiah 32:17

There is nothing too hard for God to EFFECT.
"I know that You can do everything."
"Is anything too hard for Me, says the Lord?"
"He does according to His will among the armies of Heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth."
"He works all things after the counsel of His own will."

Nothing is too hard for God — no change in providence, however it may appear improbable, or impossible to us. He could bringwater out of the flinty rock. He could supply quail to satisfy the wants, and gratify the lusts of His people in the desert. He could feed Elijah for twelve months by ravens, and for two years and a half more by a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in the widow's cruse. He could inundate Samaria with plenty — in the midst of famine and fearful desolation. If He wills it . . .
  the fire shall not burn the three Hebrew youth,
  nor the lions injure Daniel,
  nor death hold Lazarus in the tomb.

What He has done — He can do; for He is immutable. And if necessary for the glory of His name — He will do it, for He will not allow His name to be polluted.

"Providence" is simply God at work — at work for . . .
  the accomplishment of His decrees,
  the fulfillment of His promises,
  the manifestation of His character, and
  the present and eternal welfare of His people.
He can . . .
give whatever we need,
do whatever we need, and
glorify Himself in giving to us, and working for us!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Unspeakable!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

What vastness and wonder there is about Christ and His redemption! When He is mine, I dwell among inexhaustible and immeasurable things! Three times the New Testament uses the adjective "Unspeakable!" concerning Him.

1. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

Saved by His mercy, I possess this unspeakable gift — unspeakable on account of its dimensions. Jesus baffles computation, He is so far-reaching and so wide.

I cannot describe His breadth: He meets all the requirements of my many-sided nature — body, mind, memory, imagination, conscience, will, heart.

I cannot estimate His length: from eternity past He loved me — and through eternity future His love will last, without end, without change!

I cannot fathom His depth: He fathoms my sharpest sorrow, my bitterest agony, my fiercest temptation, my foulest sin.

I cannot scale His height: He transforms me into His own holy likeness, and will soon bring me to His own presence — up and up to the heart and the house of the Father!

Christ is an inexpressible gift which cannot be set forth in detail!

2. "He was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter!" 2 Corinthians 12:4

I listen to His unspeakable words — unspeakable on account of their sacredness. It is not lawful for a man to utter them. I have moments on the Mount with my Lord, about which in their mystery and miracle and delight — I cannot express. He has Hissecrets for me, with which it would be sacrilege for a stranger to intermeddle. I am lifted into Paradise; I look on its flowers; I hearken to its songs — and then I must shut up the marvel in my heart of hearts.


3. "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an unspeakable and glorious joy!" 1 Peter 1:8

Admitted to His family, I rejoice with an unspeakable joy — unspeakable on account of its richness. How superfluous and empty are words picture it — how poor and inadequate! The cup runs over. The tide sweeps every barrier away! Christ intends me to have an unbroken experience of His pardoning mercy, and His keeping and sanctifying grace. He intends me to reapinconceivable satisfaction from communion with Himself. My joy on earth should be of the same substance, if not of the same degree, as the joy which waits for me in Heaven!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Christian contentment

(Jeremiah Burroughs, 1600-1646)

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances!" Philippians 4:11

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that!" 1 Timothy 6:6-8 

"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

My own special treasure!

(Theodore Cuyler, "Wayside Springs from the Fountain of Life" 1883)

"Now if you will obey Me and keep My covenant, you will be My own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth!" Exodus 19:5

Luther said that there is great divinity in the personal pronouns of Scripture. "They will be Mine — in the day when I make upMy jewels!" Malachi 3:17

Every true believer is surrendered to the ownership of Christ. Up to the hour of conversion we had other masters — self, sin, and the devil. Now Jesus says to each Christian, "You are Mine! I own you. I will instruct you, and polish you, and put you wherever it pleases Me. I will take care of your salvation, and nothing shall pluck you out of My hand. You shall be My own special treasure in the day of My triumphant appearing. I will place you in My crown!"

"You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and He has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be His own special treasure!" Deuteronomy 14:2

"The LORD has declared today that you are His people, His own special treasure, just as He promised, and that you must obey all His commands." Deuteronomy 26:18

   ~  ~  ~  ~

The prosperity of the wicked — and the adversity of the righteous!

(Arthur Pink, "No Marvels" 1952)

"If you see oppression of the poor, and perversion of justice and righteousness throughout the land — do not marvel at the matter." Ecclesiastes 5:8

In the midst of his soliloquizings and moralizings, King Solomon interjected an occasional counsel or exhortation: "Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, there was wickedness; and that in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there also." (Ecclesiastes 3:16), and he bids his readers not to be surprised or stumbled thereat.

It was a timely word, for such passages as Job 12:6 and 21:7; Psalm 73:2-12; Jeremiah 12:1 show that the Old Testament saints were deeply exercised over the prosperity of the wicked — and the adversity of the righteous. Solomon, therefore, seeks to remove this stumbling-block and prevent their taking offence at, or murmuring against, God's divine government. 

Fallen human nature being what it is, we should not think it strange that the strong oppress the weak, or that justice should be corrupted by those in high places. Man is made to reap the bitter harvest of his apostasy from God.

Yet, however perplexed we may be over the success which so often rewards the workers of iniquity, let us be assured that nothing escapes the notice of the Most High God, that He "regards" and has wise reasons for permitting the frequent miscarriage of human justice by the magistrates and rulers of earth. There is One infinitely above to whom they must yet render an account, and from whom they will receive "a just recompense of reward." (Hebrews 2:2)

"But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth.

Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me — until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny! Surely You place them on slippery ground; You cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!" Psalm 73

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Genesis 49:8-12

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Joshua the High Priest

Devotional Hours with the Bible, Volume 4: Chapter 46 - Joshua the High Priest
By J.R. Miller


Zechariah 3:1-10

Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai. His prophetic career seems to have been brief. His mission was that of an encourager. The people in trying to rebuild Jerusalem had become greatly discouraged. A deep depression had settled on them. Zechariah sought to kindle hope in their hearts and to induce them to undertake the work of building. In visions which are interpreted by the angel, the prophet gives his message.

Our passage gives one of the visions. "He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary." This is a strange picture--the high priest in his place before God, and Satan standing beside him. We understand at once that Satan is not there for any friendly purpose. He is never anywhere for a friendly purpose in behalf of a godly man, or for the good of the world. No matter in what guise Satan appears, or what his profession may be--his real object is always sinister and wicked.

Probably if we could see spirits with these eyes of ours--we should many times behold pictures like this--good people in good places with good intent--and Satan standing at their right hand. When we go to church, Satan no doubt keeps near us or has some of his messengers near us, not because he enjoys going to church, nor because he likes to be with us--but because he has some evil design on us. He is always our adversary, whatever he may profess to be--never our friend.

Life is full of insidious dangers. Ofttimes when we think we are safest--we are in the greatest peril. Many of our gravest dangers are unsuspected, because they hide in the sunshine of our sweetest blessings. Prosperity has its perils, which are worse in many cases than what we dread so in adversity or misfortune. Disease is more apt to lurk in a soft, dreamy atmosphere, balmy and pleasant--than in the sharp, chill, wintry air of January. More demons hide in luxurious conditions, than in circumstances of hardship and honest poverty. So it is in spiritual things. Living in a church--would not keep the devil away from one's ear. The minister in his pulpit or at the communion table--is not sheltered from the assaults of Satan, the adversary. When the priest and the prophet stand before God, Satan always stands beside them!

While Satan was standing beside Joshua, so was the angel of Jehovah. That counteracted the danger. Satan could not harm the godly priest, while the Lord was taking care of him. Satan will no doubt follow us wherever we go, even intruding himself into the holiest places. But if we are where duty calls us or leads us--we know that God is beside us as well as Satan, and that no harm can come to us so long as we trust in Him and are faithful and obedient. If in the picture Satan alone stood, unseen, beside God's priest--it would be full of alarm, for no mortal is a match for Satan. But while the Lord also is present--there is a safe shelter into which the imperiled soul may flee. "God is our refuge ... a very present help in trouble!" "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it, and is safe!"

The best way we can answer those who would harm us--is to let God answer for us. "And the LORD said to Satan: I, the LORD, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you." The Lord is the friend of His people and will not stand by inactive, when Satan is plotting against any one of them. He is the defender especially of the defenseless.

This characteristic of the divine love is revealed in all parts of the Scriptures. God is the God of the weak. In the Mosaic laws, definite provision was made for the widow and the orphan. Something was to be left for them, when the harvests were gathered. The poor were put under special protection, to shield them from the oppression of the rich and the strong. Every child of God is an object of peculiar divine care. The weakest of them all--is as safe in God's keeping, even amid the greatest dangers--as safe as if they were already in heaven!

On Being Led by the Spirit

By Elmer Ellsworth Shelhamer


Text: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God." Rom. 8:14.

There is another passage a little like this, recorded in Gal. 5:25, which reads thus: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Mark the Divine order: Here we find that life precedes activity. It does not say, If we walk, then let us live, but rather, "if we live, then let us walk." God's order always puts first things first while the human order reverses this plan. The human says, "Be intensely active, do, DO, DO this and that, in order to be spiritual." But the Divine plan is, first be spiritual, take time, "tarry until endued," and then be intensely active.

If we live in the Spirit and are led by the Spirit, we will do certain things and avoid certain things: this will make us different from the generality of professed Christians. In what respect?

I. We will sing with the understanding. 1 Cor. 14:15.
II. We will avoid doing rash things. 1 Cor. 13:4.
III. We will be saved from worry. Ps. 37:1-3.
IV. We will be saved from hurry. Isa. 28:16.

I. We Will Sing With The Spirit And With The Understanding
If we could always keep in the Spirit what glorious singing we would have! Instead of singing a number of songs with perhaps only an occasional one catching fire and bringing supernatural blessing, we would save this wasted time and energy and sing the Spirit-inspired-song at the beginning. We would not sing it too high, nor too low, too fast, nor too slow, but keep step with the blessed Holy Ghost. For, sometimes He may lead to sing very softly, while at the next moment it may sound like a mighty army charging the foe. Sometimes He may lead to omit several verses and at other times to repeat the same verse, or chorus again and again. Now, if we are trying to sing according to order, or at the direction of a fastidious leader, the Holy Spirit's leadings are likely to be set aside. Human leadership may sound nice to musical ears, but there is no thunder-clap from the upper skies. No doubt if we were always able to sing in the Spirit, we might not need so much preaching, for we would be able to sing a revival down.

II. We Will Avoid Rash Things
To always mind the checks and leadings of the Spirit is a fine thing. Many times one is about to say, or do a certain thing, when the Holy Spirit gently checks him. Now, if he is blinded by lust, or love of praise, he will disregard these gentle misgivings and like a mule, plunge ahead, saying or doing the thing that temporarily pleases, but the after-effect will be, leanness of soul.

Paul says that the characteristic of love is freedom from rashness -- "vaunteth not itself." If we live in the Spirit we will avoid doing rash things. There are multitudes of good people, who, as they review the past, deplore many places where they marred God's original plan and did something out of the Spirit. They can see where they drove some one away who might have been reached. They can see where they wrote a hasty letter and broke fellowship with a brother beyond reparation. One hasty step may require a thousand other steps to recover the lost ground -- if ever it is recovered.

We read, "Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God." Many a man has said one rash word to a loving companion from which she never fully recovered. Forgiveness may have been sought and received, the wound may have been healed, but the scar ever remained. We have known individuals who would have gladly parted with their right hand, or a large sum of money, could the hasty and unkind word have only been recalled, but it was too late. All this can be avoided if we will but "live in the Spirit."

The Song of Moses and the Lamb

Things That Matter Most: Chapter 12 - The Song of Moses and the Lamb
By John Henry Jowett


IN the mystical and mysterious book of Revelation there is a strange and jubilant song sung by "them that have gotten the victory over the beast." I am not concerned to identify any particular beast over whom these singers had proved victorious. The beast may very well and justly stand as typical of all that is unspiritual, the general beastliness which man has to encounter as he struggles towards his crown. Tennyson gives me the suggestion I seek in his description of the four tiers of symbolic sculpture which adorned the walls of Merlin's Hall:

On the lowest beasts were slaying men;
On the second men were slaying beasts;
On the third were warriors, perfect men,
And on the fourth were men with growing wings.

The singers in the Seer's vision had attained to this glorious power of wing; they had gotten the victory over the beast.

And what was the burden of their song? First of all they sang the eternal righteousness of God. "Righteous and true are Thy ways." That is ever the main theme of psalmist, prophet, apostle, martyr, and saint; that is the ground-work of the heavenly music, the very stuff and substance of the song. The praise of the blest is not primarily concerned with the tender love of God or His infinite compassion; not first with the flowers of the earth, but with earth's enduring frame; not first with God's graces, but with His grace, His incorruptible holiness. For what love can there be without a basis of truth? And what is the worth of mercy without the solidity of rectitude? And so it is that when these singers break into song this is the theme of their music: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord!"

And, secondly, their music wanders among the wonders of God's progressive providence. "Great and marvellous are Thy works! "These works are not primarily the works of nature, but the works of grace. The singers are contemplating the truth in its conflict with falsehood. They are watching the wonders of holiness in its hallowing ministries among the children of men. They are recalling the romance of God's providence as they see it unrolled through the generations of their own troubled national history. And their doxology of providence and grace gathers about two names, the names of Moses and the Lamb. In their songful recital of providential deliverances these two names seem to crystallize and tell the story. And what is the significance of the names? Surely it is this: Moses signifies emancipation from social bondage; the Lamb signifies emancipation from spiritual bondage. Moses stands for deliverance from wrong. The Lamb stands for deliverance from sin. Moses delivers from the wrong which man may suffer from his brother. The Lamb delivers from the wrong which man may suffer from himself. Moses delivers from the Pharaoh outside man. The Lamb delivers from the devil within man. Moses delivers from the gall of oppression and pain. The Lamb delivers from the gall of guilt and sin. This is the song the singers sing, the "Song of Moses and the Lamb"--Thy marvellous works in Moses against all wrong; Thy marvellous works in the Lamb against all sin!

Let me still further emphasize the distinction here made. The song of Moses described a deliverance from the Egyptian house of bondage. It narrated an Exodus from oppression and servitude. The deliverance was the destruction of a galling yoke imposed by man on man. It was the overthrow of tyranny. And that deliverance is sung as a great and marvellous work of God; God is working through a human leader to human emancipation. And this deliverance by Moses is being continued to our own day. In every generation there is some new Exodus from servitude, led by men inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. The leader himself may not be conscious of his divine inspiration, but he is nevertheless the instrument of God's right hand. Wherever men have been fettered in physical servitude, wherever minds have been imprisoned in the darkness of ignorance, wherever hearts have been bruised and broken and a leader has appeared to set the captive free, that leader was a Moses, the champion of a new Exodus, and his crusade of freedom was inspired of the Lord.

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