Know How To Wait

 Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

He shall make haste to keep the LORD's commandments; but he shall not make haste in any impatient or improper sense. 

He shall not haste to run away, for he shall not be overcome with the fear which causes panic. 

When others are flying hither and thither as if their wits had failed them, the believer shall be quiet, calm, and deliberate, and so shall be able to act wisely in the hour of trial.

He shall not haste in his expectations, craving his good things at once and on the spot, but he will wait God's time. 

Some are in a desperate hurry to have the bird in the hand, for they regard the LORD's promise as a bird in the bush, not likely to be theirs. 

Believers know how to wait...He shall not haste by plunging into wrong or questionable action. 

Unbelief must be doing something, and thus it works its own undoing; but faith makes no more haste than good speed, and thus it is not forced to go back sorrowfully by the way which it followed heedlessly. 

How is it with me? Am I believing, and am I therefore keeping to the believer's peace, which is walking with God? Peace, fluttering spirit!

Oh, rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him! Heart, see that thou do this at once!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Rest In All Thy Goings

Exo 33:14  And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Precious promise! LORD, enable me to appropriate it as all my own. 

We must go at certain times from our abode, for here we have no continuing city.

It often happens that when we feel most at home in a place, we are suddenly called away from it. 

Here is the antidote for this ill. The LORD Himself will keep us company. 

His presence, which includes His favor, His fellowship, His care, and His power, shall be ever with us in every one of our marchings.

This means far more than it says; for, in fact, it means all things. 

If we have God present with us, we have possession of heaven and earth.

Go with me, LORD, and then command me where Thou wilt! 

But we hope to find a place of rest. The text promises it. We are to have rest of God's own giving, making, and preserving. 

His presence will cause us to rest even when we are on the march, yea, even in the midst of battle.

Rest! Thrice blessed word. Can it ever be enjoyed by mortals? 

Yes, there is the promise, and by faith we plead it. Rest comes from the Comforter, from the Prince of Peace, and from the glorious Father who rested on the seventh day from all His works. 

To be with God is to rest in the most emphatic sense.

~Charles Spurgeon~

NOW It Is High Time To Awake Out Of Sleep

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.  

One of the greatest enemies to faith is indolence. It is much easier to lie and suffer than to rise and overcome; much easier to go to sleep on a snowbank and never wake again, than to rouse one's self and shake off the lethargy and overcome the stupor. 

Faith is an energetic art; prayer is intense labor; the effectual working prayer of the righteous man availeth much.

Satan tries to put us to sleep, as he did the disciples in the garden; but let us not sleep as do others, but let us wake and be sober, continuing in prayer and watching therein with all perseverance, stirring up ourselves to take hold of His strength, "not slothful, but followers of them, who, through patience, inherit the promise."

It is the wind that carries the ship across the waves; but the wind is powerless unless the hand of the boatman is held firmly upon the rudder, and that rudder is set hard against the wind.

In like manner we hold the rudder, God fills the sails. It is not the rudder that carries the ship; but it is the rudder which catches the wind that carries the ship, so God keeps us in perfect peace while we are stayed upon Him.

~A. B. Simpson~

The Outward, Upward Look

Isa 45:22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

This is a promise of promises. It lies at the foundation of our spiritual I life. 

Salvation comes through a look at Him who is "a just God and a Saviour." 

How simple is the direction! "Look unto me." How reasonable is the requirement! 

Surely the creature should look to the Creator. We have looked elsewhere long enough; it is time that we look alone to Him who invites our expectation and promises to give us His salvation. 

Only a look! Will we not look at once? We are to bring nothing in ourselves but to look outward and upward to our LORD on His throne, whither He has gone up from the cross.

A look requires no preparation, no violent effort: it needs neither wit nor wisdom, wealth nor strength.

All that we need is in the LORD our God, and if we look to Him for everything, that everything shall be ours, and we shall be saved.

Come, far-off ones, look hither! Ye ends of the earth, turn your eyes this way!

As from the furthest regions men may see the sun and enjoy his light, so you who lie in death's borders at the very gates of hell may by a look receive the light of God, the life of heaven, the salvation of the LORD Jesus Christ, who is God and therefore able to save.

~Charles Spurgeon~

We would See Jesus

John 12:21  The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

When any great blessing is awaiting us, the devil is sure to try and make it so disagreeable to us that we shall miss it.
     
It is a good thing to know him as a liar, and remember, when he is trying to prejudice us strongly against any cause, that very likely the greatest blessing of our life lies there.
     
Spurgeon once said that the best evidence that God was on our side is the devil's growl, and we are generally pretty safe in following a thing according to Satan's dislike for it.

Beloved, take care, lest in the very line where your prejudices are setting you off from God's people and God's truth, you are missing the treasures of your life.
     
Take the treasures of heaven no matter how they come to you, even if it be as earthly treasures generally are, like the kernel inside the rough shell, or the gem in the bosom of the hard rock.
     
I have seen Jesus and my heart is dead to all beside,
I have seen Jesus, and my wants are all, in Him, supplied.
I have seen Jesus, and my heart, at last, is satisfied,
Since I've seen Jesus.

~A B. Simpson~

Instant Obedience

Gen 17:23  And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
 
Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience.

Every time God calls us to any duty, He is offering to make a covenant with us; doing the duty is our part, and He will do His part in special blessing.
     
The only way we can obey is to obey "in the selfsame day," as Abraham did.

To be sure, we often postpone a duty and then later on do it as fully as we can.

It is better to do this than not to do it at all.

But it is then, at the best, only a crippled, disfigured, half-way sort of duty-doing; and a postponed duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended, and that it would have brought if done at the earliest possible moment. 

It is a pity to rob ourselves, along with robbing God and others, by procrastination.

In the selfsame day is the Genesis way of saying, "Do it now."

~Messages for the Morning Watch~
     
Luther says that "a true believer will crucify the question, Why? He will obey without questioning.

I will not be one of those who, except they see signs and wonders, will in no wise believe.

I will obey without questioning.
     
Ours not to make reply, Ours not to reason why, Ours but to do and die.
     
Obedience is the fruit of faith; patience, the bloom on the fruit.

~Christina Rossetti~

The Discipline Of Faith

Mark 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

The "all things" do not always come simply for the asking, for the reason that God is ever seeking to teach us the way of faith, and in our training in the faith life there must be room for the trial of faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith, the courage of faith, and often many stages are passed before we really realize what is the end of faith, namely, the victory of faith.
     
Real moral fibre is developed through discipline of faith. You have made your request of God, but the answer does not come. What are you to do?
     
Keep on believing God's Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and thus as you stand steady, enlarged power and experience is being developed.

The fact of looking at the apparent contradiction as to God's Word and being unmoved from your position of faith make you stronger on every other line.
     
Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is the fulfillment when it comes.
     
In the lives of all the great Bible characters, God worked thus.

Abraham, Moses and Elijah were not great in the beginning, but were made great through the discipline of their faith, and only thus were they fitted for the positions to which God had called them.
     
For example, in the case of Joseph whom the Lord was training for the throne of Egypt, we read in the Psalms:"The word of the Lord tried him."

It was not the prison life with its hard beds or poor food that tried him, but it was the word God had spoken into his heart in the early years concerning elevation and honor which were greater than his brethren were to receive;

It was this which was ever before him, when every step in his career made it seem more and more impossible of fulfillment, until he was there imprisoned, and all in innocency, while others who were perhaps justly incarcerated, were released, and he was left to languish alone.
     
These were hours that tried his soul, but hours of spiritual growth and development, that, "when his word came" (the word of release), found him fitted for the delicate task of dealing with his wayward brethren, with a love and patience only surpassed by God Himself.
     
No amount of persecution tries like such experiences as these.

When God has spoken of His purpose to do, and yet the days go on and He does not do it, that is truly hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible.

~From Streams In The Desert~

Thankfulness~The Secret Of Happiness

This grace of thankfulness diligently cultivated is one of the secrets of true happiness.

It is not the happy people who are thankful. It is the thankful people who are happy.

Happiness does not depend on what we have, else those who have the most would be the happiest. 

As a matter of fact, how often do we find that those who have the most are not the happiest?

Happiness does not depend on what we have: it rather depends upon our point of view, and he who has won the thankful point of view is always on the highway of gladness. 

The flower that to the farmer is a weed may to the botanist be treasure trove. The rain that is so vexing to the child is just what the angler has been looking for.

And so in life there are a thousand things that have an equal power to vex us or to bless us, according to our different point of view. 

No one who murmurs is ever really happy, and no one who worries is ever really happy.

They have forgotten God and left Him out, and to leave Him out is to leave out the music. 

And it is only when, through Christ our Savior, we come to see His loving hand in everything that we win the thankful, grateful heart without which nobody ever can be glad.

Ungrateful people are never happy people. They are always querulous and discontented. 

The more we are thankful for our everyday mercies, the more does life become a joyful thing. 

And that is why Christian life is always joyful, because everything the years may bring to us, Christ makes it possible for all who trust Him to cultivate the thankful spirit.

The tiniest gift from somebody we love is of more value than many a costly offering. 

We take it gratefully just because love is there, and, taking it gratefully, it makes us happy.

And so when we learn, as every man can learn, that God is love and that in Him we live, there is a worth in things we never saw before. 

The way to be glad is to be grateful, and the way to be grateful is to trust in God, to trust in Him as Jesus trusted Him on that night in which He was betrayed. 

Thus grows the assurance that there is no mistake, that He is watching, guiding, guarding, blessing us, which, when a man has learned, he ceases murmuring and finds that being thankful he is glad.

~George H. Morrison~

The Friend Of God

Gen 18:22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
 
The friend of God can plead with Him for others.

Perhaps Abraham's height of faith and friendship seems beyond our little possibilities.

Do not be discouraged, Abraham grew; so may we. He went step by step, not by great leaps.

The man whose faith has been deeply tested and who has come off victorious, is the man to whom supreme tests must come.
     
The finest jewels are most carefully cut and polished; the hottest fires try the most precious metal.

Abraham would never have been called the Father of the Faithful if he had not been proved to the uttermost.

Read Genesis, twenty-second chapter:
     
Take thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest. See him going with a chastened, wistful, yet humbly obedient heart up Moriah's height, with the idol of his heart beside him about to be sacrificed at the command of God whom he had faithfully loved and served!
     
What a rebuke to our questionings of God's dealings with us!
 
Away with all doubting explanations of this stupendous scene! It was an object lesson for the ages. Angels were looking.
     
Shall this man's faith stand forever for the strength and help of all God's people?

Shall it be known through him that unfaltering faith will always prove the faithfulness of God?
     
Yes; and when faith has borne victoriously its uttermost test, the angel of the Lord--who?

The Lord Jesus, Jehovah, He in whom "all the promises of God are yea and amen"--spoke to him, saying, "Now I know that thou fearest God."

Thou hast trusted me to the uttermost. I will also trust thee; thou shalt ever be My friend, and I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing.
     
It is always so, and always will be. "They that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

~Selected~
     
It is no small thing to be on terms of friendship with God.

A New Power

Gal 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Gal 3:14  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The witch’s spell was cast to rob of the enjoyment, the living expression of the reality that the Holy Spirit had now become the power of their lives. How set the enemy is against this great, basic fact of the true Christian life!

Firstly the enemy is always seeking to bring around that life a wrapping of death, to smother it, to arrest and check the progress, the development, and the activity of that divine life; to bring us again into the realm of spiritual death, where that life is no longer functioning.

Then he is against our position, as through the cross, outside this world, and is always trying to bring us back into it somehow.

He knows that if he can do it he has finished our testimony, he has robbed us of our position, he has denied the Gospel.

He is dead set against this life of which the Holy Spirit is the energy.

He is after a life in the flesh instead of the life in the Spirit, to counter a Holy Spirit filled and dominated life.

He is the spirit of this age; he is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience; he is the great evil spirit, and he is set against the Holy Spirit of God.

So these believers were knowing something of that historic effort of the enemy to quench the government of the Holy Spirit.

We are in a spiritual succession to these Galatians.

The Christian life is a life with Christ indwelling as its life. It is a life cut off by the cross from the world and all worldly considerations.

It is a life indwelt and governed by the Holy Spirit in all details.

That is where faith comes in. That is exactly the point where faith has its meaning.

It is so much easier for the flesh to walk according to sense than it is to walk by faith in the Spirit.

Life in the Spirit is sometimes so intangible. It calls for such an exercise of faith that you have to commit yourself to the Lord and go on when you cannot see, where you have no feeling, and believe implicitly that the Lord is not going to fail you and let you go wrong...even if He is hidden from your view, covered from your sense; yes, oft-times deeper than your very consciousness itself.
 
You are living for His glory, and as you are at liberty within your heart to move you have to move and believe implicitly that God is going not only to preserve you from wrong and from mistakes, but is going to bring good out of your faith movement with Him.

That is a life of faith, and our natures do not take to it at all kindly.

It is a life in the Spirit, as differing from a life in the flesh.
The best of the Lord’s people sometimes cry out: Oh, that I might know exactly what it is the Lord is doing! The Lord says: You go on with Me and trust Me. I know what I am doing!

We discover at length that the Lord did know what He was doing. He does make it plain.

He is undoing the mischievous work of the devil from the beginning, that work by which he put into the very nature of man unbelief in God, doubt and questioning of God.

The Lord is destroying that by the very life of faith, and showing to us that God is true and faithful and can be relied upon, and He need give no evidence to our flesh of that fact, but He proves it to those who repose faith in Him as the faithful God.

How do you know? By believing! How do you come to see? By going on and not seeing, but trusting God.

You say it is a difficult life! Well, the witch’s spell can deliver you!

You can have something else in its place!

But you will find that the witch’s spell is an illusion, and there is no substitute for that.

It is the way of a wonderful, continuous discovery of the wonderful things of God.

It is to those who believe that God makes known His deep secrets.
Enrichment of life comes there.

Paul says that this new life in the Spirit, with the Holy Spirit as the power of our life, comes by way of the cross.

~T. Austin Sparks~

You Make The Trenches

2Ki 3:16  And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.
 
2Ki 3:17  For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
 
Three armies were perishing of thirst, and the LORD interposed. Although He sent neither cloud nor rain, yet He supplied an abundance of water. 

He is not dependent upon ordinary methods but can surprise His people with novelties of wisdom and power. 

Thus are we made to see more of God than ordinary processes could have revealed. 

Although the LORD may not appear for us in the way we expect, or desire, or suppose, yet He will in some way or other provide for us.

It is a great blessing for us to be raised above looking to secondary causes so that we may gaze into the face of the great First Cause.

Have we this day grace enough to make trenches into which the divine blessing may flow? 

Alas! We too often fail in the exhibition of true and practical faith.

Let us this day be on the outlook for answers to prayer. As the child who went to a meeting to pray for rain took an umbrella with her, so let us truly and practically expect the LORD to bless us.

Let us make the valley full of ditches and expect to see them 

~Charles Spurgeon ~

Deliverance From The Authority Of Darkness

You notice that the book which goes by this name - Exodus - begins with the names of the sons of Israel, the names of the elect race, and then out of Egypt God calls His son collectively as one son, the sons in the son. 

He leads them out and what a rich fulness of meaning that gives to a little statement with which we are so familiar in John's Gospel - "He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" (John 10:3). 

The names all mentioned, the chosen ones; He leadeth them out, He makes the exodus for His own sheep.

It says this, that those who were in Judaism, as it was in the days when our Lord was here on earth, were in something which had become bound up with the kingdoms of this world from which they had to be delivered by the death of the Lord Jesus and it was a very religious thing.

We are getting very near to the heart of things.

Our deliverance from the authority of darkness may have to be wrought, not only in our separation from this world as we think of it, it may have to be wrought in a religious sense to get a people out into a heavenly place, even from Christianity, as a religion of this world, something which has become bound up with this world and its kingdom.

This deliverance of the Cross is an utter thing...that is what we are getting at.

~T. Austin Sparks~