Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
One of
the hardest things for a lofty and superior nature is to be under
authority...
To renounce his own will...
And to take a place of subjection.
But Christ took upon Him the form of a servant...
Gave up His
independence...
His right to please Himself...
His liberty of choice...
And
after having from eternal ages known only to command...
Gave Himself up
only to obey...
I have seen occasionally the man who
was once a wealthy employer a clerk in the same store.
It was not an
easy or graceful position, I assure you.
But Jesus
was such a perfect servant that His Father said: "Behold, My Servant in
whom My soul is well pleased."
All His life His watchword was, "The Son of
Man came to minister."
I am among you as He that doth serve.
I can do
nothing of Myself.
Not My will, but Thine, be done.
Have you,
beloved, learned the servant's place?
And once more,
"He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
His life
was all a dying, and at last He gave all up to death, and also shame,
the death of crucifixion.
This last was the consummation of His love.
~A. B. Simpson~
Isa 45:2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
This was for Cyrus; but it is evermore the
heritage of all the LORD's own spiritual servants.
Only let us go
forward by faith, and our way will be cleared for us.
Crooks and turns
of human craft and satanic subtlety Shall Be Straightened For Us...
We
shall not need to track their devious windings.
The gates of brass shall
be broken, and the iron bars which fastened them shall be cut asunder.
We shall not need the battering ram nor the crowbar...
The LORD Himself
will do the impossible for us, and the unexpected shall be a fact.
Let
us not sit down in coward fear.
Let us press onward in the path of
duty, for the LORD hath said it: "I will go before thee."
Ours not to
reason why; ours but to dare and dash forward.
It is the LORD's work,
and He will enable us to do it...
All impediments must yield before Him.
Hath He not said, "I will break in pieces the gates of brass"!
What can
hinder His purpose or balk His decrees?
Those who serve God have
infinite resources.
The way is clear to faith though barred to human
strength.
When Jehovah says, "I will," as He does twice in this promise,
we dare not doubt.
~Charles Spurgeon~
Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
The
armor of the ancients was of two different kinds, and both kinds were
absolutely necessary.
It was partly armor for attack and partly armor
for protection.
Now very generally, in the New Testament, faith is one
of the weapons of attack .
1John
5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
We see that magnificently
illustrated in the pageant of Hebrews 11.
But here, and it
may be only here, Paul looks on faith in quite another light, for he
sets it among the armor of protection.
Faith is not here the power that
leads to victory; it is the power that protects us in the battle.
It
keeps us unembittered and serene amid the mysteries and buffetings of
life.
To believe that love is on the throne and that through everything
there runs a loving purpose, is in the deepest of all senses to be
shielded.
How effectual that shielding is, is shown
by the apostle's choice of words.
There are two
words in the Greek tongue for shield; the one is common and the other
rare.
The one notes a little shield or target; the other a frame that
covered the whole man.
Faith is not a
partial protection; it casts its defense over the whole of life.
It is a
means of safety for the intellect, as surely as for the passions of the
heart.
It guards the feet when they are prone to wander, and the hands
when they are growing weary, and the eyes when they are drawn to what is
wrong.
The shield of faith is an all-embracing shelter.
Faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ
is nothing less than a universal safeguard.
All was choicely shown to
the Ephesians by the word which the apostle used when he bade them take
up the shield of faith.
~George H. Morrison~
