Quiet Time With GOD

We should be better Christians if we were more alone; we should do more if we attempted less, and spent more time in retirement, and quiet waiting upon GOD.

The world is too much with us; we are afflicted with the idea that we are doing nothing unless we are fussily running to and fro; we do not believe in "the calm retreat, the silent shade."

As a people, we are of a very practical turn of mind; "we believe," as someone has said, "in having all our irons in the fire, and consider the time not spent between the anvil and the fire as lost, or much the same as lost."

Yet no time is more profitably spent than that which is set apart for quiet musing, for talking with GOD, for looking up to Heaven.

We cannot have too many of these open spaces in life, hours in which the soul is left accessible to any sweet thought or influence it may please GOD to send.

Reverie, it has been said, "is the Sunday of the mind." Let us often in these days give our mind a "Sunday," in which it will do no manner of work but simply lie still, and look upward, and spread itself out before the LORD like Gideon's fleece, to be soaked and moistened with the dews of Heaven.

Let there be intervals when we shall do nothing, think nothing, plan nothing, but just lay ourselves on the green lap of nature and "rest awhile."

Time so spent is not lost time. The fisherman cannot be said to be losing time when he is mending his nets, nor the mower when he takes a few minutes to sharpen his scythe at the top of the ridge.

City men cannot do better than follow the example of Isaac, and, as often as they can, get away from the fret and fever of life into fields.

Wearied with the heat and din, the noise and bustle, communion with nature is very grateful; it will have a calming, healing influence.

A walk through the fields, a saunter by the seashore or across the daisy-sprinkled meadows, will purge your life from sordidness, and make the heart beat with new joy and hope.

The little cares that fretted me, I lost them yesterday. . .Out in the fields with GOD.

Yielded Will

We must recognize the true character of our self-life and its real virulence and vileness. We must consent to its destruction, and we must take it ourselves, as Abraham did Isaac, and lay it at the feet of GOD in willing sacrifice.

This is a hard work for the natural heart, but the moment the will is yielded and the choice is made, that death is past, the agony is over, and we are astonished to find that the death is accomplished.

Usually the crisis of life in such cases hangs upon a single point. GOD does not need to strike us in a hundred places to inflict a death wound.

There is one point that touches the heart, and that is the point GOD usually strikes, the dearest thing in our life, the decisive thing in our plans, the citadel of the will, the center of the heart, and when we yield there, there is little left to yield anywhere else, and when we refuse to yield at this point, a spirit of evasion and compromise enters into all the rest of our life.

LORD, we take Thee to enable us to will Thy will to be done in all things in our life without and within.

~A. B. Simpson~

HIS Camp Is Very Great!

Joel 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Consider, my soul, the mightiness of the LORD who is thy glory and defense. He is a man of war, Jehovah is his name.

All the forces of heaven are at his beck, legions wait at his door, cherubim and seraphim;, watchers and holy ones, principalities and powers, are all attentive to his will.

If our eyes were not blinded by the ophthalmia of the flesh, we should see horses of fire and chariots of fire round about the LORD'S, beloved.

The powers of nature are all subject to the absolute control of the Creator: stormy wind and tempest, lightning and rain, and snow, and hail, and the soft dews and cheering sunshine, come and go at his decree.
 
The bands of Orion he looseth, and bindeth the sweet influences of the Pleiades.

Earth, sea, and air, and the places under the earth, are the barracks for Jehovah’s great armies; space is his camping ground, light is his banner, and flame is his sword.

When he goeth forth to war, famine ravages the land, pestilence smites the nations, hurricane sweeps the sea, tornado shakes the mountains, and earthquake makes the solid world to tremble. 

As for animate creatures, they all own his dominion, and from the great fish which swallowed the prophet, down to “all manner of flies,” which plagued the field of Zoan, all are his servants, and like the palmer-worm, the caterpillar, and the cankerworm, are squadrons of his great army, for his camp is very great.

My soul, see to it that thou be at peace with this Mighty King, yea, more, be sure to enlist under his banner, for to war against him is madness, and to serve him is glory.

Jesus, Immanuel, GOD with us, is ready to receive recruits for the army of the LORD:

If I am not already enlisted let me go to him ere I sleep, and beg to be accepted through his merits; and if I be already, as I hope I am, a soldier of the cross, let me be of good courage; for the enemy is powerless compared with my LORD, whose camp is very great.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Worship In The Night

Psalm 134:1 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.

Psa 134:2  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. 

Psa 134:3  The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.

Strange time for adoration, you say, to stand in GOD'S house by night, to worship in the depth of sorrow~it is indeed an arduous thing.

Yes, and therein lies the blessing; it is the test of perfect faith.

If I would know the love of my friend I must see what it can do in the winter. So with the Divine love.

It is easy for me to worship in the summer sunshine when the melodies of life are in the air and the fruits of life are on the tree.

But let the song of the bird cease and the fruit of the tree fall, and will my heart still go on to sing?

Will I stand in GOD'S house by night? Will I love Him in His own night?

Will I watch with Him even one hour in His Gethsemane?

Will I help to bear His cross up the dolorous way?

Will I stand beside Him in His dying moments with Mary and the beloved disciple?

Will I be able with Nicodemus to take up the dead Christ?

Then is my worship complete and my blessing glorious.

My love has come to Him in His humiliation. My faith has found Him in His lowliness.

My heart has recognized His majesty through His mean disguise, and I know at last that I desire not the gift but the Giver.

When I can stand in His house by night I have accepted Him for Himself alone.

~George Matheson~

My goal is GOD Himself, not joy, nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself...

My GOD; 'Tis His to lead me there, not mine, but His' At any cost, dear LORD, by any road!

So faith bounds forward to its goal in GOD, And love can trust her LORD to lead her there...

Upheld by Him, my soul is following hard Till God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer.

No matter if the way be sometimes dark, No matter though the cost be ofttimes great...

He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark, The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;  One thing I do, I press towards my LORD;

My GOD my glory here, from day to day, And in the glory there my Great Reward.

The ANATHEMA Of ENTERTAINMENT

In our day we must be dramatic about everything. We don´t want GOD to work unless He can make a theatrical production of it.

We want Him to come dressed in costumes with a beard and with a staff. We want Him to play a part according to our ideas.

Some of us even demand that He provide a colorful setting and fireworks as well!

Then there are some among us these days who have to depend
upon truckloads of gadgets to get their religion going...

And I am tempted to ask: What will they do when they don´t have the help of the trappings and gadgets? The truck can´t come along where they are going!
 
For there are millions who cannot live without amusement; life
without some form of entertainment for them is simply intolerable;
 
They look forward to the blessed relief afforded by professional
entertainers and other forms of psychological narcotics as a dope addict looks to his daily shot of heroin.

Without them they could not summon courage to face existence.
 
We now demand glamour and fast flowing dramatic action.

A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals.

We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with GOD.

We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.
 
The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: shallow loves,
hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element
of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit.
 
These and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

~A. W. Tozer~

Implicit Trust

Jer 39:18  For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.
 
Behold the Protecting Power of Trust in GOD. The great men of Jerusalem fell by the sword, but poor Ebed-melech was secure, for his confidence was in Jehovah.

Where else should a man trust but in his Maker? We are foolish when we prefer the creature to the Creator.

Oh, that we could in all things live by faith, then should we be delivered in all time of danger!

No one ever did trust in the LORD in vain, and no one ever shall.

The LORD saith, "I will surely deliver thee," Mark the divine "surely." Whatever else may be uncertain, God's care of believers is sure.

God Himself is the guardian of the gracious, Under His sacred wing there is safety even when every danger is abroad.

Can we accept this promise as sure? Then in our present emergency we shall find that it stands fast.

We hope to be delivered because we have friends, or because we are prudent, or because we can see hopeful signs...

But none of these things are one-half so good as God's simple "because thou hast put thy trust in me."

Dear reader, try this way, and, trying it, you will keep to it all your life. It is as sweet as it is sure. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Separation From The Ungodly World

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

There is not a stronger mark of the LORD'S people than their separation.
 
They are separated from the world, separated from their families, separated from their own righteousness, and often separated from the religious world.
 
A godly people whom the LORD has set apart from all others, that He might set them apart for Himself.
 
Now, it is this distinctive badge of separateness the LORD will have His saints retain in all their Christian course.
 
We are very apt to forget it. We live in the world, mix with the world, hold transactions with the world, and, in some measure, are guided by the conventional habits of the world. 

Still, we have need to be continually reminded that, though living in the world, and, of necessity, compelled to conform to its proper and lawful customs, we yet are not OF the world.
 
I have chosen you OUT OF the world, says the unworldly, loving Savior to His disciples; therefore the world hates you.
 
You are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
 
Now, in what sense, oh my soul, and to what extent, does your loyalty to Christ demand your separation from the world?
 
The words which suggest the present reflection are, by a slight variation, taken from the prophet Isaiah 52:11, and originally were applied to the captive Jews in Babylon,
 
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing!
 
Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
 
Now, Babylon, a city of proud,unclean idolaters, and opposed to God, was an emblem of this ungodly, Babylonish world, in which the saints of the Most High dwell, but from which they are called to come, and from whose inhabitants they are called upon to separate themselves, touching not the unclean thing.
 
The religion of Christ is not ascetic and monkish.
It knows nothing of "nunneries,"or "monasteries," or "retreats."
 
These are all opposed to the genius and requirements of Christianity - its divine, social, and spiritual nature.
 
Our blessed LORD, the Divine Founder of our religion, expressly warns His disciples of this perversion of His gospel.
 
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold He is in the desert; go not forth - behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
 
It enjoins nothing like this upon its disciples, "for then must you needs go out of the world," says the apostle.
 
But it does teach crucifixion to the world, nonconformity to the world, spiritual and marked separation from the world, from its pleasures, its gaieties, its principles, its religion.
 
We are the professed disciples of an unearthly Christ, the followers of an unworldly Savior.
 
Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him outside the camp (of the Babylonish world), "bearing His reproach," keeping our consecrated garments unspotted from the world, touching not the unclean thing.
 
Then will Jesus, our LORD, receive us, and infinitely make amends for all we have lost of power and wealth and honors, for His holy and precious Name.
 
Let our separation from the world be our closer union and fellowship with the Church of Christ in its every branch, and with Christ Himself, the one Head of the Church.
 
This will tend more strongly to define and sharpen the line of demarcation between us and an ungodly world.
 
Association with the saints will render us a more marked and distinct people.
 
The world will take account of us that we are the LORD'S.
 
O my soul! come away from an unclean and defiling world.
 
If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
 
LORD! by Your cross may I be crucified to the world, and the world to me.
 
~Octavius Winslow~

My Shepherd!

Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

The shepherd is a favorite Scriptural picture of the divine love and care.

In the Old Testament, the twenty-third Psalm gathers the whole wonderful truth in exquisite lines, which are dear to young and old wherever the Bible is known.

Then in the New Testament, when our Lord would give His friends the sweetest revealings of His heart toward them, and tell them what they are to Him, and what He would be to them - He says, "I am the Good Shepherd." 

The Hebrew shepherd lives with his sheep. If they are out in the storm he is with them. If they are exposed to danger so is he.

Just so, Christ lives with His people. He enters into closest relations with them.

The shepherd knows his sheep. He has a name for each one and calls them all by their names.

Just so, Christ knows each one of His friends, has intimate personal knowledge of each one.

He knows the best in us and also the worst...our faults, our sins, our wanderings. Yet, knowing us as we are He loves us still and never wearies of us!

The shepherd is most gentle with his sheep. He does not drive them but goes before them and leads them.

When they need rest on the way he makes them lie down, and chooses for their resting-place, not the dusty road but green pastures.

He is especially kind to the lambs, gathers them in his arms and carries them in his bosom.

All this is an exquisite picture of the gentleness of our Good Shepherd in His care of His sheep. He is thoughtful toward the weak.

He loves the lambs and makes room for them on His bosom.

Whatever the need is, there is something in the heart of Christ which meets its craving and supplies its lack!

The shepherd defends his flock in all danger. Often he had to risk his own safety, even his life, in protecting his sheep.

Just so, the Good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep!

Christ's sheep are absolutely safe in His keeping. "I give unto them eternal life," He said; "and they will never perish...ever!

No one will snatch them out of My hand!" Then at last, He will bring His own all safely home, "and they shall become one flock with one Shepherd!" 

~J. R. Miller~

A Mountain Choir

Isa 49:13  Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

So sweet are the comforts of the LORD, that not only the saints themselves may sing of them, but even the heavens and the earth may take up the song.

It takes something to make a mountain sing; and yet the prophet summons quite a choir of them.

Lebanon, and Sirion, and the high hills of Bashan and Moab, He would set them all singing because of Jehovah's grace to His own Zion.

May we not also make mountains of difficulty, and trial, and mystery, and labor become occasions for praise unto our God? 

Break forth into singing, O mountains!

This word of promise, that our God will have mercy upon His afflicted, has a whole peal of bells connected with it.

Hear their music - "Sing!" "Be joyful!" "Break forth into singing."

The LORD would have His people happy because of His unfailing love.

He would not have us sad and doubtful;

He cannot fail us: why should we sigh or sulk as if He would do so?

Oh, for a well-tuned harp! Oh, for voices like those of the cherubim before the throne! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Passion Was The Same

Luk 16:14  And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

Our Lord had been speaking against the sin of covetousness, when the Pharisees, who were themselves lovers of money (Luk. 16:14), began to ridicule Him.

In these circumstances the parable was spoken; it was meant to enforce the warnings against mammon (Luk. 16:13).

And there is something highly significant in the unexpected turn that the enforcing takes.

Between the typical Pharisee and this rich man there was little outward resemblance.

The bitterest enemy could not accuse the Pharisees of faring sumptuously every day...

Whatever their faults were, they were austere and rigid. They honestly despised luxurious living.

Yet in drawing this picture of luxurious living, there is no doubt that Jesus was thinking first of them.

Now, where lay the point of contact, do you think? It lay in a common love of money.

The Pharisee loved it, and he secretly hoarded it. The rich man loved it for the pleasure it bought. 

Each showed his passion for wealth in his own way, but the same passion was supreme in both.

Learn, then, how one deep-seated vice may fashion itself in the most diverse garbs.

A hundred miles may separate two rivers, but for all that, they flow from the one lake.

Our eyes might fail to discover kinship between the secret hoarding of the Pharisee and the prodigal squandering of this rich man;

But in the eyes of Christ, both ran down to a common selfishness, and to a common heart neglect of GOD.

~George H. Morrison~
     

Refreshing Sleep

Psalm 127:2  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Ours is not a life of anxious care but of happy faith. Our heavenly Father will supply the wants of His own children, and He knoweth what we have need of before we ask Him. 

We may therefore go to our beds at the proper hour and Not wear ourselves out by sitting up late to plot, and plan, and contrive.

If we have learned to rely upon our GOD, we shall not lie awake with fear gnawing at our hearts; but we shall leave our care with the LORD, our meditation of Him shall be sweet, and He will give us refreshing sleep.

To be the LORD's beloved is the highest possible honor, and he who has it may feel that ambition itself could desire no more, and therefore every selfish wish may go to sleep.

What more is there even in heaven than the love of GOD? Rest, then, O soul, for thou hast all things. 

Yet we toss to and fro unless the LORD Himself gives us not only the reasons for rest but rest itself. Yea, He doth this.

Jesus Himself is our peace, our rest, our all, On His bosom we sleep in perfect security, both in life and in death.

Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood, I lay me down to rest As in the embraces of my GOD, Or on my Saviour's breast. 

~Charles Spurgeon~