The Shadow

Shall we trust our Father only when our lives are filled with pleasant things and then not trust Him also when a shadow falls over our hearts? 

Do you think that God is good only when He makes all things please you?

Our call is to trust God at all times whether good or bad.

For even if sorrow should enter our home, He is able, even in the midst of sorrow, to make our home-life sweeter, purer, and more Christ-like. 

If we trust in God, then the shadow will be as rich a blessing to us as the light; and the sorrow will be steps upward, on which our feet may climb Heavenward!

~J. R. Miller~

And When You Feel Weak...Lean Hard!

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved? Song of Solomon 8:5

Jesus is the object of a believer's love. To him the world is a wilderness.

Heaven is his Father's house...and his home. He is passing through the wilderness in company with Jesus.

He is represented as the bride leaning on her Beloved.This is indicative of weakness in herself...and confidence in her Beloved.

He is her strength as well as her guide.

He is her support as well as the object of her affection.

She leans on Him as well as converses with Him.

He supports her as well as comforts her.

Believer, keep close to your Savior's side! Never leave Him while in this waste howling wilderness. Lean on Him! And when you feel weak...lean hard!

His strong arm is put forth to support your weak frame. He will bear you up. He will lead you on.

The more you lean on Him the more you will love Him! The more you love Him the closer you will cleave to Him!

Yield to His guidance, trust in His love, lean on His power, walk by His side.

In His company you are safe!

In communion with Him you will be happy! Like the two disciples of old, your heart will be warmed, and you will be at the end of your journey before you are aware of it!

He is always at your side...so lean hard!

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved?  Song of Solomon 8:5

~James Smith~

"Ephraim Is A Cake Not Turned"

Hos 7:8  Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; 

Ephraim is a cake not turned. A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. 

My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God? 

Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? 

To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer.

And although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.
 
A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with a vain glorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humour.

The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness.

The saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night.

The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the other.
If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire of thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from thy heavenly flame.

Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of thy grace, I must be consumed forever amid everlasting burnings.

~Charles Spurgeon~

You Must Get Alone With HIm

Isa 30:21  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

When we have doubts or are facing difficulties, when others
suggest courses of action that are conflicting, when caution dictates one approach but faith another, we should be still.

We should quiet each intruding person, calm ourselves in the sacred stillness of God’s presence, study His Word for guidance, and with true devotion focus our attention on Him.

We should lift our nature into the pure light radiating from His face, having an eagerness to know only what God our Lord will determine for us. 

Soon He will reveal by His secret counsel a distinct and
unmistakable sense of His direction.
 
It is unwise for a new believer to depend on this approach  alone. He should wait for circumstances to also confirm what
God is revealing. 

Yet Christians who have had many experiences in their walk with Him know the great value of secret fellowship with the Lord as a means of discerning His will.
 
Are you uncertain about which direction you should go?
 
Take your question to God and receive guidance from either
the light of His smile or the cloud of His refusal. 

You must get alone with Him, where the lights and the darknesses of this world cannot interfere and where the opinions of others cannot reach you.

You must also have the courage to wait in silent expectation, even when everyone around you is insisting on an immediate decision or action. 

If you will do these things, the will of God will become clear to you. And you will have a deeper concept of who He is, having more insight into His nature and His heart of love. 

All this will be your unsurpassed gift. It will be a heavenly
experience, a precious eternal privilege, and the rich reward for the long hours of waiting. 

David “STAND STILL,” my soul, for so your Lord commands: 

Even when your way seems blocked, leave it in His wise hands; His arm is mighty to divide the wave.

Stand still, my soul,“stand still” and you will see How God can work the “impossible” for thee,
 
For with a great deliverance He does save. Be not impatient, but in stillness stand, Even when surrounded on every hand,
In ways your spirit does not comprehend.
 
God cannot clear your way till you are still, That He may work in you His blessed will, And all your heart and will to Him do bend.

BE STILL, my soul, for just when you are still, Can God reveal Himself to you; until Through you His love and light and life can freely flow; In stillness God can work through you and reach The souls around you. 

He then through you can teach His lessons, and His power in weakness show. 

BE STILL~a deeper step in faith and rest.  

Be still and know your Father does know best The way to lead His child to that fair land, A “summer” land, where quiet waters flow; Where longing souls are satisfied, and “know Their God,” and praise for all that He has planned.

~Selected~

Lift Up The Hands Which Hang Down

Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
(Hebrews 12:12–13 KJV)
 
This verse is God’s word of encouragement to us to lift the
hands of faith and to fortify the knees of prayer.

All too often our faith becomes tired, weak, and listless, and our prayers lose their power and effectiveness.
 
The Lord’s illustration here is quite compelling. He is pointing
out to us that when we become so discouraged and fearful that
even one little obstacle depresses and frightens us, we are tempted to walk around it. We would rather take the easy way than face it. 

Perhaps there is some physical ailment that God is ready to heal, but it requires exertion on our part. The temptation is to
find help from someone else or to walk around the obstacle in
some other way.
 
We tend to find many ways of walking around emergencies
instead of walking straight through them. 

So often we are faced with something that frightens or overwhelms us and seek to evade the problem with the excuse: I’m not quite ready for that now.
 
It may require some sacrifice, or demand our obedience in some
area. 

Perhaps there is some Jericho we are facing, or we are lacking
the courage to help someone else and to pray through his concern with him. 

Perhaps we have a prayer that awaits completion, or a physical problem that is partially healed and we continue to walk around it.
 
God says, “Lift up the hands that hang down.”March straight
through the flood, and behold! The waters will divide, the Red
Sea will open, the Jordan will part, and the Lord will lead you
through to victory.
 
Do not allow your feet to “be turned out of the way,” but let your body “be healed,” and your faith strengthened. 

Go straight ahead, leaving no Jericho unconquered behind you, and no place where Satan can boast of having overwhelmed you.
 
This is a valuable lesson and is extremely practical. How often
we find ourselves in this very situation!
 
Perhaps this is where you find yourself today.

~A. B. Simpson~
 
Pay as little attention to discouragement as possible.Plow ahead
like a steamship, which moves forward whether facing rough or
smooth seas, and in rain or shine.

Only One KINGDOM STANDS!

1Pe 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

1Pe 2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
 
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
 
Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
 
Mal 3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
 
Mal 3:5  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
 
Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
 
Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
 
Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
 
Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
 
Mal 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
 
Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
 
Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
 
Mal 3:13  Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
 
Mal 3:14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
 
Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
 
Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
 
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
 
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.


                                                                                 

We Love Him Because He First Loved Us

There is no light in the planet but that which proceedeth from the sun; and there is no true love to Jesus in the heart but that which cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. 

From this overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must spring.  

This must ever be a great and certain truth, that we love him for no other reason than because he first loved us. 

Our love to him is the fair offspring of his love to us. Cold admiration, when studying the works of God, anyone may have, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by God’s Spirit. 

How great the wonder that such as we should ever have been
brought to love Jesus at all!

How marvellous that when we had rebelled against him, he should, by a display of such amazing love, seek to draw us back. 

No! never should we have had a grain of love towards God unless it had been sown in us by the sweet seed of his love to us. 

Love, then, has for its parent the love of God shed abroad in the heart: but after it is thus divinely born, it must be divinely nourished. 

Love is an exotic; it is not a plant which will flourish naturally in human soil, it must be watered from above.

Love to Jesus is a flower of a delicate nature, and if it received no nourishment but that which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts it would soon wither.  

As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by manna from on high.
 
Love must feed on love. The very soul and life of our love to God is his love to us. 

I love thee, Lord, but with no love of mine, For I have none to give;
 
I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine, For by thy love I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in thee.”

~Charles Spurgeon~

Songs In The Night

Job 35:10  But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; 

Do you ever experience sleepless nights, tossing and turning and simply waiting for the first glimmer of dawn? When that happens, why not ask the Holy Spirit to fix your thoughts on God, your Maker, and believe He can fill those lonely, dreary nights with song?
 
Is your night one of bereavement? Focusing on God often causes
Him to draw near to your grieving heart, bringing you the
assurance that He needs the one who has died.

The Lord will assure you He has called the eager, enthusiastic spirit of your departed loved one to stand with the invisible yet liberated, living, and radiant multitude. 

And as this thought enters your mind, along with the knowledge that your loved one is engaged in a great heavenly mission, a song begins in your heart.
 
Is your night one of discouragement or failure, whether real or imagined? Do you feel as if no one understands you, and your friends have pushed you aside?

Take heart: your Maker “will come near to you” (James 4:8) and give you a song—a song of hope, which will be harmonious with the strong, resonant music of His providence.
 
Be ready to sing the song your Maker imparts to you.

~Selected~
 
What then? Shall we sit idly down and say The night has come; it is no longer day?
 
Yet as the evening twilight fades away, The sky is filled with stars, invisible to day.
 
The strength of a ship is only fully demonstrated when it faces a hurricane, and the power of the gospel can only be fully exhibited when a Christian is subjected to some fiery trial.

We must understand that for God to give “songs in the night,” He must first make it night. 

~Nathaniel William Taylor~

The GREATEST Danger

The greatest danger we all face is not being able to see Jesus in our troubles—instead, we see ghosts.

In that peak moment of fear when the night is the blackest and the storm is the angriest, Jesus always draws near to us, to reveal Himself as the Lord of the flood, the Savior in the storms. “The
Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King forever” (Psalm 29:10).

In Matthew 14, Jesus ordered His disciples into a boat that was headed for a storm. 

The Bible says He constrained them to get into a ship. In other words, He insisted that they get into the ship even though it was headed for troubled waters; it would be tossed about like a bobbing cork.

And where was Jesus? He was up in the mountains overlooking the sea, praying for them not to fail in the test He knew was coming.

Later He came to them, walking on the water (see Matthew 14:25). But not one disciple recognized Him! 

They did not expect to see Him out on the water in the middle of a storm. Never, ever did they expect Him to be with them or even near them in a tempest.

At least one disciple should have recognized what was happening and said, “Look, friends, Jesus said He would never leave us or forsake us.

He sent us on this mission; we are in the center of His will. He said the steps of a righteous man are ordered by Him. Look again. That’s our Lord! His is right here! We’ve never once been out of His sight!

There was only one lesson to be learned—only one. It was a simple lesson, not some deep, mystical, earth-shattering one. 

Jesus wanted to be trusted as their Lord, in every storm of life.  

He simply wanted them to maintain their cheer and confidence, even in the blackest hours of trial. Just one simple but very important lesson!

“I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

~David Wilkerson~

GOD'S Divine Appointments

                                               
Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.   

All things! Look at that! All that concerns our body and soul~everything in providence~everything in grace~everything you have passed through~everything you are passing through~everything you shall pass through.

All things! What! Is there not a single thing, however minute, however comparatively unimportant, that is not for my good, if I love God? No! Not one! 

If there were a single thing which befalls me, which is not working together for my good, if I am a child of God, I say it with reverence~that this verse would be a lie in God's book.

And yet, when we consider the variety of things that affect us~to believe that all of them are working together for our good~how must we admire the wonderful wisdom, and power, and government of God!

Are we tried in our circumstances? This is according to God's divine appointment.

Is it the Lord's will and pleasure to bring us down in the world, by sorrows and adversities in providence? This is still according to God's divine appointment. 

Have we afflictions in the family? It is still according to God's divine appointment. It comes from Him. 

Nothing can happen in body~in property~in family that does not spring from God's divine appointment.

Are children taken away? They are taken by the hand of God! The Lord gives and the Lord takes away! 

Is wife or husband afflicted? The hand of God is in it. Is the body brought down with sickness? It comes from God.

Is the mind tried with a thousand perplexities, anxieties, and cares? It is still the hand of God. All these matters spring from His divine appointment!

Nothing can take place, either in providence or in grace except as God in His infinite wisdom has decreed to perform or decreed to allow!

~J. C. Philpot~

Causes For Heart Wanderings-Looking At Our Difficulties

Another cause of the loss of grace is looking at our difficulties. 

It is to be expected that life is full of difficulties, and living in a fallen world implies this. 

There are difficulties in the spiritual life in the way of seeking pardon or holiness-difficulties in growth in grace-difficulties that spring from our own minds or from heredity, our social surroundings, our temporal affairs, our temperament or our poor and false teaching difficulties innumerable, that spring like weeds in every field of life; and to get the eye on these difficulties will weaken faith, sap perseverance, distract the mind, cloud the vision and draw the soul from God. 

The divine life is pre-eminently the way and life of faith. 

When Peter looked at the waves of the sea, his mind lost the bright conception of the omnipotence of Jesus, and so he began to sink. 

When Abraham looked at the difficulties of how he was going to retain his beautiful wife in the presence of the greedy heathen king, he did not know how to manage it; and so he was induced to tell a falsehood, just because the difficulties of the situation, for the time being, shut out the omnipotent care of God.

Our heavenly Father permits His children to be hemmed in many times by the network of difficulties, and the Devil uses such circumstances to plead the necessity of committing sin in order to get through. 

The very things that God permits as a test of our faith, the Devil uses as an argument for some disobedience.

~G. D. Watson~