My whole Creed And Duty

John 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

For myself, after all my years of teaching and helping others, and all my experiences as a Christian, my whole creed is summed up into one little sentence, "Christ and I are friends!" 

No friend in all the world is so near to me as He is. I trust Him, I love Him, I take everything to Him, I lay every burden upon Him.

I go to Him for wisdom, for help, for the love I need in my own heart.

He is everything to me as Friend.

Christ is my personal Friend. He is my dearest, truest, strongest and best Friend! 

Then for myself, my whole duty is summed up in being a friend of Christ's. He says, "You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you." This includes all Scripture commands. 

In telling you this, I want to help you to understand that the essential thing in the Christian life is knowing Christ, trusting Him, loving Him, following Him, having Christ for your Friend-and being His friend. 

Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend! 

~J. R. Miller~

"Be Thou In The Fear Of The Lord All The Day Long"

Pro 23:17  Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
 
Pro 23:18  For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

The Lord is here addressing himself to a soul laboring under temptation, and passing through peculiar exercises;

And this is the exhortation that he gives it: "Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long;" watching his hand, submitting to his will, committing everything into his care and keeping;

Not hardening your heart against him, but looking up to him, and worshipping him with godly fear; "for surely there is an end."

You may be tempted, exercised, and surrounded with difficulties, and see no outlet; but "surely there is an end;"

And, when the end comes, it will make all plain and clear. 

This quiet submission, this watching and waiting, a man can never be brought to unless he has seen an end to all perfection; an end of his own strength, wisdom, and righteousness.

To sit still is the hardest thing a man can do.

To lie passive at God's footstool when all things seem to be against us;

To have a rough path to walk in, to be surrounded with difficulties, and yet to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, watching his hand, desiring to submit to his will,

Seeking only that wisdom which cometh from above, and trusting that he will make the way straight;

Not putting our hand to the work, but leaving it all to the Lord-how strange, how mysterious a path!

And yet it is the only one that brings solid peace to a Christian; "for surely there is an end."

Whatever sorrows and troubles a man may have to wade through, there will surely be an end of them. 

If we try to get ourselves out of perplexities, we are like a person trying to unravel a tangled skein of silk by pulling it forcibly; the more it is pulled, the more entangled it gets, and the faster the knots become.

So if we are plunged into any trial, providential or spiritual, and we attempt to extricate ourselves by main force, by kicking and rebelling, we only get more entangled.

The Lord, then, to encourage us to wait patiently upon him till he shall appear, says, "Surely there is an end." 

This is the universal testimony of the Scripture, that the Lord appears and delivers, when there is none shut up or left;

And the experience of the saints agrees with the testimony of the written word: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

~J. C. Philpot~

"And They Follow Me"

John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for he has a right to lead us wherever he pleases.

We are not our own, we are bought with a price...let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. 

The soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys his master, much more must we follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession.

We are not true to our profession of being Christians, if we question the bidding of our Leader and Commander.

Submission is our duty, caviling is our folly.

Often might our Lord say to us as to Peter, “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.”

Wherever Jesus may lead us, he goes before us.

If we know not where we go, we know with whom we go. 

With such a companion, who will dread the perils of the road?

The journey may be long, but his everlasting arms will carry us to the end.

The presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation, because he lives, we shall live also.

We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which he leads us all end in glory and immortality.

It is true they may not be smooth paths-they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant.

Let us put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, his purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy.

We shall find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the hill with Christ;

And when rain and snow blow into our faces, his dear love will make us far more blest than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire.

To the top of Amana, to the dens of lions, or to the hills of leopards, we will follow our Beloved. 

Precious Jesus, draw us, and we will run after thee.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Nothing Is Too Hard

Gen 18:14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Here is God's loving challenge to you and to me today.

He wants us to think of the deepest, highest, worthiest desire and longing of our hearts, something which perhaps was our desire for ourselves or for someone dear to us, yet which has been so long unfulfilled that we have looked upon it as only a lost desire, that which might have been but now cannot be, and so have given up hope of seeing it fulfilled in this life.

That thing, if it is in line with what we know to be His expressed will (as a son to Abraham and Sarah was), God intends to do for us, even if we know that it is of such utter impossibility that we only laugh at the absurdity of anyone's supposing it could ever now come to pass.

That thing God intends to do for us, if we will let Him.

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Not when we believe in Him enough to go forward and do His will, and let Him do the impossible for us.

Even Abraham and Sarah could have blocked God's plan if they had continued to disbelieve.

The only thing too hard for Jehovah is deliberate, continued disbelief in His love and power, and our final rejection of His plans for us.

Nothing is too hard for Jehovah to do for them that trust Him. 

~Messages for the Morning Watch~

GOD Is Jealous

Nahum 1:2  God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer.

Did he choose you?

He cannot bear that you should choose another. 

Did he buy you with his own blood?

He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world.

He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish...

And he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and himself.

He is very jealous of your trust.

He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh.

He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you.

When we lean upon him, he is glad...

But when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend...

Worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, he is displeased, and will chasten us that he may bring us to himself. 

He is also very jealous of our company.

There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. 

To abide in him only, this is true love;

But to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret communion with him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord.

He would fain have us abide in him, and enjoy constant fellowship with himself;

And many of the trials which he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself.

Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us...

For if he loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that he will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies.

Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Secret Of Joy

Hab 3:18  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The secret of joy is not to wait until you feel happy, but to rise, by an act of faith, out of the depression which is dragging you down, and begin to praise God as an act of choice. 

This is the meaning of such passages as these: "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice"; "I do rejoice; yes, and I will rejoice."

Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. In all these cases there is an evident struggle with sadness and then the triumphs of faith and praise.

Now, this is what is meant in part, at least by the sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice is that which costs us something.

And when a man or woman has some cherished grudge or wrong and is harboring it, nursing it, dwelling on it, rolling it as a sweet morsel under the tongue, and quite determined to enjoy a miserable time in selfish morbidness and grumbling,...

It costs us no little sacrifice to throw off the morbid spell, to refuse the suggestions of injury, neglect and the remembrance of unkindness, to rise out of the mood of self-commiseration in wholesome and holy determination, and say, "I will rejoice in the Lord"; I will "count it all joy."

~A. B. Simpson~

Victory Without Battle

Hosea 1:7  But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

Precious Word. Jehovah Himself will deliver His people in the greatness of His mercy, but He will not do it by the ordinary means...

Men are slow to render to God the glory due unto His name.

If they go to battle with sword and bow and win the victory, they ought to praise their God; yet they do not, but begin to magnify their own right arm and glory in their horses and horsemen.

For this reason our Jehovah often determines to save His people without second means, that all the honor may be to Himself alone.

Look, then, my heart, to the LORD alone and not to man. 

Expect to see God all the more clearly when there is no one else to look to. 

If I have no friend, no adviser, no one at my back, let me be none the less confident if I can feel that the LORD Himself is on my side;

Yea, let me be glad if He gives victory without battle, as the text seems to imply.

Why do I ask for horses and horsemen if Jehovah Himself has mercy upon me and lifts up His arm for my defense!

Why need I bow or sword if God will save?

Let me trust and not be afraid from this day forth and for evermore. Amen.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Trust In GOD, And Do The Right!

Neh 5:15  But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
 
Obey God at all hazards.
 

A Christian has no other alternative.
 

There is one plan to adopt one safe course to follow. 
 

Set your mind against all wrong practices.
 

Whatever others may say or do, whatever reproach or trouble or loss it may bring to you walk steadfastly along the highway of truth, justice, and equity.

And as you endeavor to do so, be persuaded that God is on your side, that He will stand by you and befriend you, and that for any present sacrifices you may have to make, He will honor you.

It is the truest wisdom as well as your plain duty to please God rather than man, and in all things to keep the precepts of His Word.

Trust in God, and do the right!
 

Let this ever be the rule you follow.
 

It will save you from many a snare.
 

It will make your course plain and clear.

This was the principle that guided Nehemiah. He was a man of prayer, and trusted God in everything.

Moreover, he stood out manfully and boldly against the evils of his day.

He determined to act in everything as before God.

Whatever evil others did, he acted in a different spirit.

He said, "But I did not do so, because of the fear of God!"

The same principle guided the three Hebrew youths of whom we read in the book of Daniel. 

They trusted in God, and did the right.

Though threatened with a cruel death, they would not flinch.

Daniel 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
 

Daniel 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
 

Daniel 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.  

~George Everard~

He Has Conquered Every Foe That Obstructed The Way!

Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had he never passed that way.

He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way.

Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior.

Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies.

Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. 

Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death.

Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition.

Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome.

There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire.

The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point.

God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us.

Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. 

What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil.

You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. 

Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.

Proclaim aloud the Saviour’s fame, Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name; Sweet name; and it becomes him well, Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Night of Weeping; Joyous Day

A moment under our Father's anger seems very long, and yet it is but a moment after all. 

If we grieve His Spirit, we cannot look for His smile; but He is a God ready to pardon, and He soon puts aside all remembrance of our faults.

When we faint and are ready to die because of His frown, His favor puts new life into us.

This verse has another note of the semi-quaver kind. Our weeping night soon turns into joyous day. 

Brevity is the mark of mercy in the hour of the chastisement of believers.

The LORD loves not to use the rod on His chosen; He gives a blow or two, and all is over; yea, and the life and the joy, which follow the anger and the weeping, more than make amends for the salutary sorrow.

Come, my heart, begin thy hallelujahs!

Weep not all through the night, but wipe thine eyes in anticipation of the morning.

These tears are dews which mean us as much good as the sunbeams of the morrow.

Tears clear the eyes for the sight of God in His grace and make the vision of His favor more precious. 

A night of sorrow supplies those shades of the pictures by which the highlights are brought out with distinctness.

All is well.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Cast Your Burdens Upon GOD

Song Of Solomon 4:8  Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

Crushing weights give the Christian wings. It seems like a contradiction in terms, but it is a blessed truth.

David out of some bitter experience cried: "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest" 

Psa 55:6  And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.

But before he finished this meditation he seems to have realized that his wish for wings was a realizable one.

For he says, "Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee."

The word "burden" is translated in the Bible margin, "what he (Jehovah) hath given thee."

The saints' burdens are God-given; they lead him to "wait upon Jehovah," and when that is done, in the magic of trust, the "burden" is metamorphosed into a pair of wings, and the weighted one "mounts up with wings as eagles."

~Sunday School Times~

One day when walking down the street, On business bent, while thinking hard About the "hundred cares" which seemed Like thunder clouds about to break In torrents, Self-pity said to me: You poor, poor thing, you have too much To do. 

Your life is far too hard. This heavy load will crush you soon.
 
A swift response of sympathy Welled up within. The burning sun Seemed more intense.

The dust and noise Of puffing motors flying past With rasping blast of blowing horn Incensed still more the whining nerves, The fabled last back-breaking straw To weary, troubled, fretting mind.

Ah, yes, twill break and crush my life; I cannot bear this constant strain Of endless, aggravating cares; They are too great for such as I.

So thus my heart condoled itself, "Enjoying misery," when lo!
      
A "still small voice" distinctly said, "It was sent to lift you-not to crush."

I saw at once my great mistake.

My place was not beneath the load But on the top! God meant it not That I should carry it. He sent It here to carry me.

Full well He knew my incapacity Before the plan was made.

He saw A child of His in need of grace And power to serve; a puny twig Requiring sun and rain to grow; An undeveloped chrysalis; A weak soul lacking faith in God.

He could not help but see all this And more.

And then, with tender thought He placed it where it had to grow...Or die.

To lie and cringe beneath One's load means death, but life and power Await all those who dare to rise above.

Our burdens are our wings; on them We soar to higher realms of grace; Without them we must roam On planes of undeveloped faith, (For faith grows but by exercise in circumstance impossible).

Oh, paradox of Heaven. The load We think will crush was sent to lift us Up to God!

Then, soul of mine, Climb up! for naught can e'er be crushed Save what is underneath the weight. 

How may we climb! By what ascent Shall we surmount the carping cares Of life! 

Within His word is found The key which opens His secret stairs; Alone with Christ, secluded there, We mount our loads, and rest in Him.

~Miss Mary Butterfield~

A Name Guarantee

John 14:13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

It is not every believer who has yet learned to pray in Christ's name.

To ask not only for His sake, but in His name, as authorized by Him, is a high order of prayer.

We would not dare to ask for some things in that blessed name, for it would be a wretched profanation of it; but when the petition is so clearly right that we dare set the name of Jesus to it, then it must be granted.

Prayer is all the more sure to succeed because it is for the Father's glory through the Son.

It glorifies His truth, His faithfulness, His power, His grace, The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father's love to Him, and the honor which He has put upon Him.

The glory of Jesus and of the Father are so wrapped up together that the grace which magnifies the one magnifies the other.

The channel is made famous through the fullness of the fountain, and the fountain is honored through the channel by which it flows.

If the answering of our prayers would dishonor our LORD, we would not pray; but since in this thing He is glorified, we will pray without ceasing in that dear name in which God and His people have a fellowship of delight.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Tempered And Tried

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

They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the heights that they have won, and telling us that what man once did man can do again.

Not only do they remind us of the necessity of faith, but also of that patience by which faith has its perfect work.

Let us fear to take ourselves out of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a single lesson of His loving discipline by discouragement or doubt.

There is only one thing, said a village blacksmith, that I fear, and that is to be thrown on the scrap heap.

When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it into this bucket of cold water.

I very soon find whether it will take temper or go to pieces in the process.

When I discover after one or two tests that it is not going to allow itself to be tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes around.

So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if I am not willing to stand the test, or am not going to prove a fit subject for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap heap.

When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there will be a blessed "afterward"; and with Job we may be able to say, "When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold."

~Selected~

Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven's key-note if you can stand the strain.

Things that hurt and things that mar Shape the man for perfect praise; Shock and strain and ruin are Friendlier than the smiling days.

A medicine Essential For Our Spiritual Health And Happiness!

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made a

How does God comfort us? Suppose you are in some great trouble...how will God comfort you?

God comforts us by showing us the necessity of that trouble.

Do you ever think of this...that there is NO CHANCE?

Not a pang can pierce the heart of His redeemed child, for which there is not a needs-be!
 
Not an ache can gnaw the frame; not a grief can pierce the heart; not a shadow can darken the soul which is not permitted because there was a needs-be!

It is comfort to know that no affliction is random, that no bereavement is accident but that each is sent because it was a medicine essential for our spiritual health and happiness.

Thus God comforts us.

God comforts us in affliction, by revealing to us what is the source of trouble. 

We are told that not a trouble can befall us that has not been first in God's bosom; that not a tear can start in the eye that He has not first planned, and estimated, and weighed, and pronounced to be expedient for us.

Admit for one moment, that CHANCE is the parent of your troubles-that accident is the author of your bereavements-and what a gloomy place must this world be!

What a sad heart must the mourner's be! What an unhappy man must the victim of trouble be!

But when we know that the blow that strikes the heaviest, is from our Father's hand; that the sorrow that pierces the heart with the keenest agony, lay in His bosom before it received its mission to touch us...then surely it is a truth, "I, even I, am He who comforts you!"

God comforts us by showing us the end of that trouble.

If the sorrows, bereavements, disappointments, griefs, secret and open, had no end, and no grand object, and no great purpose to accomplish then they would be intolerable.

But He tells us, "Though no tribulation for the present seems joyous, but grievous-yet afterwards it works out the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby."

He tells us that "Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory."

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

And therefore the necessity, the source, and the end of our troubles, revealed to us by God...take away the edge of them, and make at least tolerable that which, if inexplicable, would be altogether intolerable.

~John Cumming~