Take Everything To God In Prayer

An important help in the life of prayer is the habit of bringing everything to God...

 

Moment by moment, as it comes to us in life.

This may become a habit the same way all habits are formed...

 

Repeated and constantly attended, moment by moment...

 

Until that which is at first an act of will becomes spontaneous and second nature.

If we will watch our lives, we shall find that God meets the things that we commit to Him in prayer with special blessing.

He often allows the best things that we have not committed to Him to be ineffectual...

 

Simply to remind us of our dependence upon Him for everything.

It is very gracious and thoughtful of God to compel us gently to remember Him.

He would hold us so close to Himself that we cannot get away for a single minute from His all-sustaining arm. 

Philippians 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Let us bring our least petitions, Like the incense beaten small...

All our cares, complaints, conditions Jesus loves to bear them all.

~A. B. Simpson~

Purity Of Heart And Life

 Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Purity, even purity of heart, is the main thing to be aimed at. 

We need to be made clean within through the Spirit and the Word...

And then we shall be clean without by consecration and obedience. 

There is a close connection between the affections and the understanding...

If we love evil we cannot understand that which is good.

If the heart is foul, the eye will be dim. 

How can those men see a holy God who love unholy things?

What a privilege it is to see God here! 

A glimpse of Him is heaven below! 

In Christ Jesus the pure in heart behold the Father. 

We see Him, His truth, His love, His purpose, His sovereignty, His covenant character, yea, we see Himself in Christ. 

But this is only apprehended as sin is kept out of the heart. 

Only those who aim at godliness can cry, "Mine eyes are ever towards the LORD." 

The desire of Moses, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory," can only be fulfilled in us as we purify ourselves from all iniquity. 

We shall "see him as he is," and "every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." 

The enjoyment of present fellowship and the hope of the beatific vision are urgent motives for purity of heart and life. 

LORD, make us pure in heart that we may see Thee!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Loved To Perfection

John 13:1  Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

This fact is essentially a promise; for what our LORD was He is...

And what He was to those with whom He lived on earth, He will be to all His beloved so long as the moon endureth. 

Having loved: here was the wonder! 

That He should ever have loved men at all is the marvel. 

What was there in His poor disciples that He should love them? 

What is there in me? 

But when He has once begun to love, it is His nature to continue to do so. 

Love made the saints "his own" what a choice title! 

He purchased them with blood, and they became His treasure. 

Being His own, He will not lose them. 

Being His beloved, He will not cease to love them. 

My soul, He will not cease to love thee! 

The text is well as it stands: "to the end." 

Even till His death the ruling passion of love to His own reigned in His sacred bosom. 

It means also to the uttermost. 

He could not love them more: He gave Himself for them. 

Some read it, to perfection. 

Truly He lavished upon them a perfect love, in which there was no flaw nor failure, no unwisdom, no unfaithfulness. 

Such is the love of Jesus to each one of His people. 

Let us sing to our Well-beloved a song.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Immediately Present

                                                 
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

 A help that is not present when we need it is of small value. 

The anchor which is left at home is of no use to the seaman in the hour of storm...

The money which he used to have is of no worth to the debtor when a writ is out against him. 

Very few earthly helps could be called "very present"...

They are usually far in the seeking, far in the using, and farther still when once used. 

But as for the LORD our God, He is present when we seek Him,...

Present when we need Him...

And present when we have already enjoyed His aid. 

He is more than "present," He is very present. 

More present than the nearest friend can be, for He is in us in our trouble...

More present than we are to ourselves, for sometimes we lack presence of mind. 

He is always present, effectually present, sympathetically present, altogether present. 

He is present now if this is a gloomy season. 

Let us rest ourselves upon Him. 

He is our refuge, let us hide in Him...

He is our strength, let us array ourselves with Him...

He is our help, let us lean upon Him...

He is our very present help, let us repose in Him now. 

We need not have a moment's care or an instant's fear...

The LORD of hosts is with us...

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Forgive And Forget!

Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and He shall save thee (Proverbs 20:22).

Let anger cool down. 

Say nothing and do nothing to avenge yourself.

You will be sure to act unwisely if you take up the weapon and fight your own battles...

And, certainly, you will not show the Spirit of the LORD Jesus.

It is nobler to forgive and let the offense pass. 

To let an injury fester in your bosom and to meditate revenge is to keep old wounds open and to make new ones.

Better forget and forgive.

Peradventure, you say that you must do something or be a great loser;...

Then do what this morning's promise advises: "Wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee."

This advice will not cost you money but is worth far more, Be calm and quiet.

Wait upon the LORD...

Tell Him your grievance...

Spread Rabshakeh's letter before the LORD, and this of itself will be an ease to your burdened mind.

Besides, there is the promise "He shall save thee." 

God will find a way of deliverance for you.

How He will do it neither you nor I can guess, but do it He will...

If the LORD saves you, this will be a deal better than getting into petty quarrels and covering yourself with filth by wrestling with the unclean.

Be no more angry.

Leave your suit with the Judge of all.

~Charles Spurgeon~

If We Knew What Would Happen Tomorrow~We Would Lose Alertness

The next thing that we should lose would be the spirit of vigorous alertness.

And of that we have a kind of parable in what we see in the animals.

Suppose, for instance, that you catch a bird and take it into the safety of your home. 

And every day you tend it and feed it until at length it learns that food is certain.

Do you know what happens, although you might not guess it?

Do you know what every naturalist knows?

Every instinct of that little captive is silently but surely being dulled.

Once it was wild and everything was dark. 

The bird was at its best when things were dark.

Once it didn't know where its breakfast was when it awoke at dawn and was hungry. 

But now it knows - you are its little providence, and you have taught it what will come.

And it is very sweet to have that certainty, but something better than sweetness is departing.

And that is what would happen to you and me could we see the content of tomorrow.

It might be sweet, but what man cares for that if something better than sweetness were to go.

I want a life responsive and alert. 

I want to be quick to see and to hear and to seize upon the will of God.

And what I say is, that this fine alertness, which is the mark of progress and of victory, would be more difficult a thousand times were we always certain of tomorrow.

Many of you here have been to London. Well, what happened when you went to London?

Didn't you cover more ground in one day than many a Londoner does in half a year? He knows it all, every street of it, every park of it and every palace.

You are alert because it is unknown.

Or to put it another way, here is a man who has to sail for India in six months. He is home on furlough - he has six months to rest - and he gets so fat that you would hardly know him.

But here is another man, a soldier, who any hour may get his call to active duty, and I tell you that is the man who is alert.

No wandering very far from where his home is. 

No laying long plans for a fine summer. 

He knows that sooner or later he must go, perhaps tonight. 

That man may lose a little as anyone does when he chooses to live the soldier's life. 

But he is always fit and always ready, and it is the uncertainty that makes him so. 

So is it with the uncertainty of death. 

So with the uncertainty of trial. 

And it is just the darkness of it all, the feeling that we don't know what may come, that helps us to be watchful every day.

~George Morrison~
     

At Wit's End

                                                  

Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner" Christian, with troubled brow?

Are you thinking of what is before you, And all you are bearing now?
      
Does all the world seem against you, And you in the battle alone?

Remember...at "Wit's End Corner" Is just where God's power is shown.

Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner," Blinded with wearying pain...
 
Feeling you cannot endure it, You cannot bear the strain...

Bruised through the constant suffering, Dizzy, and dazed, and numb?

Remember...at "Wit's End Corner" Is where Jesus loves to come.

Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner"?
      
Your work before you spread, unfinished, And pressing on heart and head...

Longing for strength to do it, Stretching out trembling hands?

Remember...at "Wit's End Corner" The Burden-bearer stands. 

Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner"?

Then you're just in the very spot...

To learn the wondrous resources Of Him who faileth not:

No doubt to a brighter pathway Your footsteps will soon be moved...

But only at "Wit's End Corner" Is the "God who is able" proved.

~Antoinette Wilson~

Do not get discouraged; it may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door.

~Stansifer~

Desires Of The Soul.

What do you desire, O my soul? 

With what imaginable excellency would you clothe yourself! 

What desirable object would you pitch upon? 

Is it beauty? 

The righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. 

So shall they be forever with the Lord.

Is it riches? 

Wealth and riches are the portion of all God's children...

Every one in His family shall have a rich, a glorious, an incorruptible, and eternal inheritance among the saints!

Is it honor? 

What honor can compare to this...

To be a friend and favorite of God...

And a spouse of Christ...

To have a crown of righteousness, of life, and of glory! 

Nay more, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory set upon your head!

Is it pleasure? 

The just shall enter into their Master's joy...

And there are rivers of pleasure at God's right hand for evermore!

In a word, what would you have, O my soul? 

A merging of all the glorious things of eternity?

If heaven, and the holiness thereof are what you seek...

Then heaven and the excellencies thereof you shall find!

Lord, make me holy...then I shall be happy!

Psa 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
 

Psa 73:26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 

~Thomas Sherman~

HE Hath Triumphed Gloriously

Exodus 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.     

Beloved, God calls us to Victory. 

Have any of you given up the conflict?

Have you surrendered? 

Have you said, "This thing is too much"? 

Have you said, "I can give up anything else but this"? 

If you have, you are not in the land of promise.

God means you should accept every difficult thing that comes in your life. 

He has started with you, knowing every difficulty. 

And if you dare to let Him, He will carry you through not only to be conquerors, but "more than conquerors."

Are you looking for all the victory?

God gives His children strength for the battle and watches over them with a fond enthusiasm.

He longs to fold you to His arms and say to you, "I have seen thy conflict, I have watched thy trials, I have rejoiced in thy victory; thou hast honored Me."

You know He told Joshua at the beginning, "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so shall I be with thee: 

I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

And again, He says to us, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee."

~A. B. Simpson~

GOD'S Threshing

John 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The word tribulation is very suggestive. 

It comes from a root which means 'a flail'.

The thresher uses the flail to beat the wheat sheaves, that he may separate the golden wheat from the chaff and straw.

Tribulation is God's threshing... 

Not to destroy us, but to get what is good, heavenly, and spiritual in us separated from what is wrong, earthly, and fleshly.

Nothing less than blows of pain will do this. 

The golden wheat of goodness in us, is so closely wrapped up in the strong chaff of sin that only the heavy flail of suffering can produce the separation!

Many of us would never enter the gates of pearl were it not for this unwelcome messenger, pain! 

We must go through many troubles to enter the kingdom of God!

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
~J. R. Miller~

Hindrances In The Realm Of The Mind

Firstly, there are hindrances in the realm of the mind. 

We have been told that man is quite unable to cope mentally with the spiritual and heavenly things of God. 

For this reason God has provided the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth, of revelation and of spiritual knowledge. 

So there will obviously be hindrances to the free flow of the Spirit if we try to reason things out for ourselves instead of heeding the Spirit-inspired Scriptures. 

If we try to think things through ourselves, we become involved in all sorts of problems and questions. 

We are specifically told that: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:14...

A fact which needs to be accepted and remembered by Christians for themselves, as well as for the world around.

There will always arise moments of crisis or experiences full of perplexity and seeming contradiction, for which the only answer is that we must trust God. 

If we resolve that we will reason the matter out, or if we turn to other men for their explanations, we will never understand the ways of God.

His Word is our only source of light. 

It will, at times, be hard to understand.

It will, perhaps, be difficult or even impossible to explain. 

But if we heed its message we will be delivered from man's foolish reasoning...

And we will have lifted off a load of rubbish which was blocking up the well within.

There are bound to be matters which defy analysis or argument, for the ways of God are past finding out. 

The real test is whether we will trust God when we cannot fathom His ways...

Whether we will deliberately and positively take up a position of faith reliance on His faithfulness. 

Even that may not provide us with an answer which satisfies our minds and solves all our intellectual problems...

But it will bring us that blessed peace which is promised to those whose minds are stayed on the Lord. 

This is just the opposite of the mind of the man who is stayed on himself and his difficulty.

Isa 26:3  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

It does not say that his heart will be at peace because he knows the answers to all the questions. No! 

The basic thing is a faith attitude towards God's faithfulness. 

To act in this way is to remove a big stone, and I venture to say that it will clear the way for a new joy, and new peace and a new strength. 

The Holy Spirit has been pent up, blocked, hindered, arrested, by incessant reasonings of the natural mind. 

He is released by the simple exercise of a faith which feeds on God's Word and relies on His faithfulness.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Love Prepares A Welcome

No one was more ready than Jesus to detect the anxieties of those He loved. 

We picture Him, as He taught the twelve, watching intently the expression on their faces to learn how far His words were understood. 

Jesus had noted, then, tokens of heart distress.

John 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

The disciples felt His departure like a torture. 

And it was then that He consoled them with such simple and glorious speech that all Christendom is the debtor to their agony. 

They thought that His death was an unforeseen calamity.

Christ taught them it was the path of His own planning. 

They thought that heaven was very far away. 

Christ taught them it was but another room in the great home of whose many mansions this beautiful world was one. 

He was not stepping out into the dark. 

He was passing from one room to another in the house. 

But the mightiest encouragement of all came when He told them, "I go to prepare a place for you." 

This, then, was the purpose of His going, that love might have all things ready when they arrived. 

When a child is born here, love has all things ready for it.

It will be the same when we awaken in eternity. 

When a boy or girl comes home from the boarding-school, has not some heart at home been busy in preparation? 

There is someone at the station, and the bedroom is arranged, and the lights are lit, and the table is spread, and all day there has been happy excitement in the home because James or Mary is coming home tonight

So Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. 

I go to have all things ready for your coming.

And though there are depths in these words we cannot fathom and mysteries we cannot understand, they mean at least that love is getting ready to give the children a real welcome home.

~George H. Morrison~     

Our Arabian Wilderness

Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 

Gal 1:17Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Paul went away from all human contact for several years, in order to spend time alone with God in the Arabian wilderness.

The newborn soul needs solitude, that, apart from the strife of tongues and the din of the world, it may meditate on those marvelous things which God has done for it. 

That it may frame a larger, deeper, more adequate conception of what salvation really is. 

That its gratitude may become more precise and more profound. 

That, with nothing and no one to distract, it may dedicate itself quietly and fully to its Lord.

The Bible teacher needs solitude, that he may apprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of that great, majestic, illimitable book he is to proclaim. 

That he may seize hold of the truth of God and that the truth of God may seize hold of him. 

That the truths of Scripture may become, more than ever, his own possession and exceeding joy. 

And then, out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will speak.

Every saint needs solitude, that he may shake off the dust and grime of worldliness and sin. 

That, waiting on the Lord, he may renew his strength. 

That a fresh unction from the Holy One may make him spiritually wise and strong.

In Arabia, as he came forth from the cloud, the face of Moses shone. 

In Arabia, the soul of Paul duly took and strongly kept the print of Heaven.

Ah, there are none of us who can venture to dispense with our Arabian wilderness!

Mar 6:31  And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

Is it my custom and my delight to go by myself to a quiet place, and rest awhile with Jesus?

~Alexander Smellie~

Will The Gates Of Pearl Be Opened To Let In Dogs And Swine?

There is no Heaven without holiness; for "without holiness no man shall see the LORD," Hebrews 12:14.

Will the gates of pearl be opened to let in dogs and swine?

NO! their place is outside, Rev 22:15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Will GOD take the children of the devil, and permit them to sit with Him in His throne?

Or, will He bring the unclean into the city, whose street is pure gold?

Be not deceived; grace and glory are but two links of one chain which GOD has joined, which no man shall put asunder.

None are transplanted into the paradise of glory above but out of the nursery of grace below.

If you are unholy while in this world, you will be forever miserable in the world to come!

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

~Thomas Boston~