Presence of Mind

Pro 3:25  Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
 
Pro 3:26  For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

When God is abroad in judgments, He would not have His people alarmed. He has not come forth to harm but to defend the righteous.

He would have them manifest courage. We who enjoy the presence of God ought to display presence of mind.

Since the LORD Himself may suddenly come, we ought not to be surprised at anything sudden. 

Serenity under the rush and roar of unexpected evils is a precious gift of divine love.

The LORD would have His chosen display discrimination so that they may see that the desolation of the wicked is not a real calamity to the universe.

Sin alone is evil; the punishment which follows thereupon is as a preserving salt to keep society from putrefying.

We should be far more shocked at the sin which deserves hell than at the hell which comes out of sin.

So, too, should the LORD's people exhibit great quietness of spirit. Satan and his serpent seed are full of all subtlety; but those who walk with God shall not be taken in their deceitful snares.

Go on, believer in Jesus, and let the LORD be thy confidence.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The POWER Of GOD

And what power! What power! Is darkness a power? Is it a power? 

Well, perhaps you have some experience to make it possible for you to say, "Yes, I know".

When you've got to move into this world, where the Lord is neither known nor recognized, nor acknowledged, apparently not wanted, and you realize that darkness is an awful power, "darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people". 

They're in darkness, and what can you do about it? You can talk, you can do all that is in your power, but you cannot break this thing until the Spirit of Power as the Spirit of Light breaks in on that soul, on that life, in that realm. It wants the power of God.

Darkness is an awful power. And if that is true in this side of the world where there has been so much light given and so much truth given, and there is so much Christian tradition, you go to the other side of the world - you go to those dark places of heathendom.

You have only got to move in such a place, such a country as India where the gospel has not touched, and you can feel the darkness. It is evil. It's positively evil! It's like that.

You may feel it in a traditionally Christian world or realm. I will never forget my first visit to the city of Rome; and wanting to see various things, I went to the Colosseum to see the place where the Christians were flung to the lions.

And I went to this and that, and then I went into St Peter's church. And, you know, I  couldn't stay. After a very short time, I had to go out.

I felt ill; physically ill! A sense of awful death came on me physically, and I was glad to get out of the place.

It was an atmosphere of death and darkness to the spirit. But, if that's true there, as I say, you go to other parts of the world and you can cut the darkness. It's so strong. It's a terrible thing. 

When the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Light entered into this darkness which was over the face of the earth, it met an awful power, it was dealing with an awful power, and it called for the exercise of the Infinite Power of God to break that reign of darkness.

It called for the Divine Fiat: "Let there be light" - the Word of His Power.

Oh, that our hearts cry and crave for the knowledge of that Power in His Word more. 

If the smallest percentage of all our speaking had the real Power of God in it, something would happen. 

Something would happen, it would be a fiat, an act of God to speak. That is why the Lord Jesus is called "the Word" because where He comes as the Word, something happens, something happens!

The devil is exposed, as when He was here and cried out, "I know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God". Hell felt the impact of the Word.

Men, sinful men, cried out in His presence like that. The point is, darkness is a terrible power.

The disruption in our humanity is a terribly strong thing. We are, every day, almost every moment of our lives, up against that breakup in the humanity which is ours, or the breakdown of it, the disorder of it, the disintegration of it, the disruption of it.

We know that our humanity is a broken down thing. We are all the time striving to pick it up and build it up and hold it up. We know it's a power, a terrible power - the disorder and chaos in ourselves.

The Spirit of God came of His own accord, of His own accord as the Spirit of Power to deal with what no other power in this universe could deal with; to change it.

And that's where we are in the new creation; it's what the Spirit of God has undertaken to do with us.

And surely there are few, if any, in this place tonight who would not echo the words of the apostle, "Kept by the power of God". 

You know you would not be a Christian today, you would not be going on with the Lord, you would not be standing true, but for the keeping power of God.

In a world like this, there is such a power against what is the Lord’s.

Well, this is the Spirit of Grace, you see, that has come to take it over. The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Grace is the custodian of the Divine Perfection.

He has taken responsibility for realizing God’s End. Oh, thank God for that!

Knowing ourselves and the awful forces that there are in our nature; knowing the world, or something of it, and the awful forces that there are in this world; and knowing the devil and something of his inimical hatred and opposition to what is of God, anything that's of God, we say, "Well, the only possibility is if God Almighty does it, sees to it".

And that is the Spirit of Grace that has come to take it up, to do it - the free action of the Holy Spirit. 

See, we read, you know we read John 16. We read John 16, and if I asked you what's in John 16, you'd have the answer.

Well, you know John 16 is, "I am going away, I am going away. You see Me now, you won't see Me anymore.

I return unto My Father... for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come, if I go away, I will send Him to you..." and on and on and on, what He will do, what He will do when He is come, when He is come; when He is come.

It's all so natural, all so effortless, it seems; it's just going to be!

It's just in the order of things. He's coming and He's going to do this and that; and that is all there is to it. 

It's just that He is coming, "I am going to send Him". We read it, we know the content of the Word, but do we realize that all this just means that the Holy Spirit is taking over all that Christ came to initiate, to carry it right through to its End.

He's just going to do it; it's what He's come for. He is the Spirit of Grace, and grace is just God doing all that God can do without asking for any merit or any payment.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of that grace as the power of God, but that's one of the riches: the riches of His power through grace.
We ought, you see, to get down to our Bibles and have a word study, and a passage study here, and there, and there. Perhaps if I only just remind you, it will start off something.

Have you not noticed that grace is many-sided in the New Testament? And one of the sides, or aspects of grace is that it is an energy. It's an energy, it's a power. It's a force in our lives. 

There was a messenger of Satan given me to buffet me. And although these are not the words that the apostle used, this is what he meant, "I cried out to the Lord: Take this away, because I can't endure it. 

I shan't be able to go on with this thing. I'll not be able to get through; this is too much, this is too strong, this is too great a burden.

It's going to limit me; it's going to spoil my life. And He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: My strength is made perfect in weakness.'"

Grace there is introduced as over against the conscious inability of the apostle to go on with what he had been called for on him, what had been put on him.

His natural reaction was, "I just cannot! If I've got to have this, I'll just not be able to. Take it away, Lord". 

He said, "I asked Him three times, take it away, Lord; take it away, Lord; take it away! Life is impossible." 

He said, "My grace is sufficient for thee" - everything is possible to grace. 

It's a power, you see. It's a power; an energy in the life. 

We do know this in measure, not as we ought to, we have had to say many times, "But for the grace of God I should have acted very differently from what I did. 

But for the grace of God... grace saved me. Grace kept me. Grace held me." 

It's the power of God as the Spirit of Grace. But there is where the riches begin.

~T. Austin Sparks~

8 Symptoms Of False Doctrine

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.

1. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their “earnestness” makes many think they must be right.

2. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.

3. There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.

4. There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.

5. There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.

6. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.

7. There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

8. There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.

All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing person to deny them. 

They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. 

They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be carried away!

~ J.C. Ryle~

Established And Kept

2Th 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
 
Men are often as devoid of reason as of faith. There are with us still "unreasonable and wicked men."

There is no use in arguing with them or trying to be at peace with them: they are false at heart and deceitful in speech.

Well, what of this? Shall we worry ourselves with them? No; let us turn to the Lord, for He is faithful. 

No promise from His Word will ever be broken. 

He is neither unreasonable in His demands upon us nor unfaithful to our claims upon Him.

We have a faithful God. Be this our joy.

He will stablish us so that wicked men shall not cause our downfall, and He will keep us so that none of the evils which now assail us shall really do us damage. 

What a blessing for us that we need not contend with men but are allowed to shelter ourselves in the Lord Jesus, who is in truest sympathy with us.

There is one true heart, one faithful mind, one never changing love; there let us repose.

The Lord will fulfill the purpose of His grace to us, His servants, and we need not allow a shadow of a fear to fall upon our spirits.

Not all that men or devils can do can hinder us of the divine protection and provision.  

This day let us pray the Lord to stablish and keep us.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Peter Began to Sink When He Began To Fear

 

Equally notable is this, too, that Peter began to sink when he began to fear. And the Scripture tells when he began to fear: it was when he took his eyes off his Lord.

There is not a trace that the wind had grown more fierce while the disciple was walking on the water. It had been just as fierce and the waves had been just as boisterous when he had sprung from the gunwale of the boat. 

But then he had thought of nothing but the Master, had eyes for nobody except the Master, and so long as that continued he was safe.

Looking to Christ, he could go anywhere. The very sea was as a pavement to him. Looking away from Christ he was as other men, and the perils that surrounded him were terrible.

And then he regretted the rashness of his venture and saw nothing around him but the seething waters, and so Peter began to be afraid and beginning to be afraid, began to sink.

That is true of every kind of life. It is true especially of spiritual life. 

In the perilous calling of the spiritual life, to lose heart is to lose everything. And that is why the Lord is always saying to us, "My son, give me thine heart," for only in His keeping is it safe.

It is a simple message--looking unto Jesus, and yet it is the message of salvation. To trust in Him and to keep the eye on Him is the one secret of all Christian victory.

And when we have failed to do so in the stress of life, as all of us, like Simon Peter, fail, then there is nothing left but to cry with Peter, "Lord, save me, or I perish."

~George H. Morrison~
     

Inoculate Yourself With Gratitude

Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.
~John Henry Jowett~

Gratitude is a vaccine … by focusing on that which is praiseworthy, gratitude inoculates us against the disease of bitterness and resentment.

Gratitude is an antitoxin … by focusing on that which is praiseworthy we counteract the poisonous lie of the Evil One that says trials are proof that God has abandoned us.

Gratitude is an antiseptic … by focusing on that which is praiseworthy we sterilize our thoughts of all that would breed the germ of discontent.

Pro 17:22  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

~John Henry Jowett~

Leaning Sides

Song of Solomon 8:5  Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.  

Some one gained a good lesson from a Southern prayer meeting. A brother asked the Lord for various blessings--as you and I do, and thanked the Lord for many already received--as you and I do; but he closed with this unusual petition: "And, O Lord, support us! Yes support us Lord on every leanin' side!" 

Have you any leaning sides? This humble man's prayer pictures them in a new way and shows the Great Supporter in a new light also.

He is always walking by the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm and steady the weak one on "every leanin' side."

Child of My love, lean hard, And let Me feel the pressure of thy care; I know thy burden, child. I shaped it; Poised it in Mine Own hand; made no proportion In its weight to thine unaided strength, For even as I laid it on, I said, 'I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, This burden shall be Mine, not hers;

So shall I keep My child within the circling arms Of My Own love.' Here lay it down, nor fear To impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of worlds. 

Yet closer come: Thou art not near enough. I would embrace thy care; So I might feel My child reposing on My breast. 

Thou lovest Me? I knew it. Doubt not then; But Loving Me, lean hard.

We Are ONE Body

Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

We are a part of a Body. Many of our sufferings are not on our own account at all. 

Many of the sufferings of the children of God have nothing whatever to do with their own faults or their own failing.

They are suffering in a related way, they are suffering for the Body’s sake, they are entering into the battle; the conflict of this one great testimony.

Sometimes it is almost uncanny when the Lord has something in view in relation to His testimony of Life, how for no reason whatever, on no account at all, we discover that we are involved and ours is not an isolated experience. 

All sorts of people all over the place are having the same kind of experience...a terrific sense of pressure, upset, annoyance, anything to frustrate~it is happening all round, testifying that in the spiritual realm, in the realm of the Spirit, there is a fine, sensitive oneness which matters to the Lord, and therefore matters to the enemy.

Do not always take your sufferings as some controversy that the Lord has with you. That is the twist the enemy often gives.

Be open to the Lord to be checked up on anything, but do not always take it that the things which are happening to you and causing you trouble and suffering are due to your own failure or wrong. 

You are involved in something very much more than that.

~T. Austin Sparks~

This Is Not An Easy Lesson To Learn!

Christ did not so much give rules for special cases...as principles to govern all conduct.

Luke 6:27  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

Loving enemies is not a natural affection.

This is not an easy lesson to learn!

It is never easy to be a Christian.

The easy way does not lead toward heaven!

The lesson of love continues, Luke 6:28  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

These counsels are intensely practical. In answer to men's cursings, revilings and insults~we are to return words of peace, kindness and love. 

Those who mistreat us we are to pray for, instead of uttering threats against them, or imprecations upon them.

We remember how Jesus Himself lived out this law of love. 

There were many who cursed Him and reviled Him but He never lost the sweetness of love out of His heart. He never on any occasion returned a word of cursing in response to the bitterest revilings of His enemies.

1Pe 2:23  Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

That is the example for us. We are to be silent when others speak evil of us or to us; or, if we speak, it is to be the soft answer that turns away wrath. 

We need not worry ourselves about the deserts of those who treat us unjustly, feeling that we should see to their punishment. 

We are to leave that to God who judges righteously and who will take care also that no real harm shall come to us, from the wrongs which others inflict on us, provided we keep ourselves in His love and in an obedient spirit.

The lesson has its ideal exemplification in our Lord's prayer on His cross for His murderers. 

His only answer to the driving of the nails through His hands and feet was, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!" 

That is the way He wants us to answer the cruelties and injuries which others may inflict upon us!

We must be ready to endure not one but many injuries from the others. We must be unresisting, like our Lord.

No wrongs from others should ever turn our love to hate. 

Christ's own life was an illustration of this. He was treated wrongfully at every step but His heart never lost its sweetness, its gentleness, its patience, its desire to bless others and do them good.

~J. R. Miller~

The SIN That Doth So EASILY Beset Us

                                     
You know, we have not yet really grasped the Lord Jesus. I say that meaningly and knowingly. Oh, how many of our worries would go if only we had seen the Lord Jesus!

How many of those delaying, arresting things in our life would go if only we had seen the Lord Jesus!

What is it that is holding us back? What is "the sin that doth so easily beset us"?

What is it that is slowing us in the race, or even holding us up? 

Oh, this terrible sinful thing that I am! This wretched man that I am! This poor thing, so weak, sinful and faulty. 

I think about this, I dwell upon that, and what happens? I stop running! All the "go" goes out of my being!'
 
You stop and think about yourself for five minutes, and see how fast you will run forward in the Lord! Oh, yes, we all do it. We are overwhelmingly obsessed with this terrible, poor, miserable thing that we are! 

We dwell upon it, and then we flop down - and the race is at an end for us while we are there. We have not seen the Lord Jesus!
 
In Him we have been dismissed. In His death we have been put out of sight. In Him risen we no longer appear before God, for He appears for us as us. He is us. THAT is seeing Jesus! 

If only we could get hold of that! If only we could get hold of Him! If only our eyes really did see what God has made Him to be for us - "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). 

Not dwelling upon our own foolishness and folly, but "unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 

What more do you want? That comprehends everything in redemption and unto glory! "Looking OFF unto Jesus."
 
Do you see what I am trying to say? The writer of this Letter to the Hebrews sees us as in a race and he says that if we are going on in this we have to see Jesus, and keep Him always in view; not by seeing ourselves and other people all the time, but keeping our eye on Him. 

Then we will keep going, but if we do not keep Him in view, then we will stop going.
 
That is very plain, very simple, but it is the Gospel concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Accept The Tempering Process

Heb 6:12  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

The biblical heroes of faith call to us from the heights they have won, encouraging us that what man once did, man can do again.
 
They remind us not only of the necessity of faith but also of the patience required for faith’s work to be perfected.

May we fear attempting to remove ourselves from the hands of our heavenly Guide, or missing even one lesson of His loving discipline due to our discouragement or doubt.
 
An old village blacksmith once said, There is only one thing I fear: being thrown onto the scrap heap.

You see, in order to strengthen a piece of steel, I must first temper it. I heat it, hammer it, and then quickly plunge it into a bucket of cold water. 

Very soon I know whether it will accept the tempering process or simply fall to pieces. 

If, after one or two tests, I see it will not allow itself to be tempered, I throw it onto the scrap heap, only to later sell it to the junkman for a few cents per pound.

I realize the Lord tests me in the same way: through fire, water, and heavy blows of His hammer. 

If I am unwilling to withstand the test, or prove to be unfit for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me onto the scrap heap.

When the fire in your life is the hottest, stand still, for “later on it produces a harvest” (Heb. 12:11) of blessings.

Then we will be able to say with Job,“When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). 

~Selected~
 
Sainthood finds its source in suffering. Remember, it requires eleven tons of pressure on a piano’s strings for it to be tuned.