Morning, September 19
“The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.”
Galatians 5:1
Charles Spurgeon
This “liberty” makes us free to heaven’s charter—the Bible.
Here is a choice passage, believer, “When thou passest through the
rivers, I will be with thee.” You are free to that. Here is another:
“The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness
shall not depart from thee”; you are free to that. You are a welcome
guest at the table of the promises. Scripture is a never-failing
treasury filled with boundless stores of grace. It is the bank of
heaven; you may draw from it as much as you please, without let or
hindrance. Come in faith and you are welcome to all covenant blessings.
There is not a promise in the Word which shall be withheld. In the
depths of tribulations let this freedom comfort you; amidst waves of
distress let it cheer you; when sorrows surround thee let it be thy
solace. This is thy Father’s love-token; thou art free to it at all
times. Thou art also free to the throne of grace. It is
the believer’s privilege to have access at all times to his heavenly
Father. Whatever our desires, our difficulties, our wants, we are at
liberty to spread all before him. It matters not how much we may have
sinned, we may ask and expect pardon. It signifies nothing how poor we
are, we may plead his promise that he will provide all things needful.
We have permission to approach his throne at all times—in midnight’s
darkest hour, or in noontide’s most burning heat. Exercise thy right, O
believer, and live up to thy privilege. Thou art free to all that is
treasured up in Christ—wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption. It matters not what thy need is, for there is fulness of
supply in Christ, and it is there for thee. O what a “freedom” is
thine! freedom from condemnation, freedom to the promises, freedom to
the throne of grace, and at last freedom to enter heaven!
My Utmost for His Highest
September 19th
Do you continue to go with Jesus?
Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations. Luke 22:28
Oswald Chambers
It
is true that Jesus Christ is with us in our temptations, but are we
going with Him in His temptations? Many of us cease to go with Jesus
from the moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God
shifts your circumstances, and see whether you are going with Jesus, or
siding with the world, the flesh and the devil. We wear His badge, but
are we going with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back
and walked no more with Him.” The temptations of Jesus continued
throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life
of the Son of God in us. Are we going with Jesus in the life we are
living now?
We
have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things
God brings round us. Never! God engineers circumstances, and whatever
they may be like we have to see that we face them while abiding
continually with Him in His temptations. They are His
temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the
Son of God in us. The honour of Jesus Christ is at stake in your bodily
life. Are you remaining loyal to the Son of God in the things which
beset His life in you?
Do
you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through
the city gate, outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies
until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice, “Follow Me.”[1]
Evening, September 19
“For this child I prayed.”
1 Samuel 1:27
Charles Spurgeon
Devout
souls delight to look upon those mercies which they have obtained in
answer to supplication, for they can see God’s especial love in them.
When we can name our blessings Samuel, that is, “asked of God,” they
will be as dear to us as her child was to Hannah. Peninnah had many
children, but they came as common blessings unsought in prayer: Hannah’s
one heaven-given child was dearer far, because he was the fruit of
earnest pleadings. How sweet was that water to Samson which he found at
“the well of him that prayed!” Quassia cups turn all waters bitter, but
the cup of prayer puts a sweetness into the draughts it brings. Did we
pray for the conversion of our children? How doubly sweet, when they are
saved, to see in them our own petitions fulfilled! Better to rejoice
over them as the fruit of our pleadings than as the fruit of our bodies.
Have we sought of the Lord some choice spiritual gift? When it comes to
us it will be wrapped up in the gold cloth of God’s faithfulness and
truth, and so be doubly precious. Have we petitioned for success in the
Lord’s work? How joyful is the prosperity which comes flying upon the
wings of prayer! It is always best to get blessings into our house in
the legitimate way, by the door of prayer; then they are blessings
indeed, and not temptations. Even when prayer speeds not, the blessings
grow all the richer for the delay; the child Jesus was all the more
lovely in the eyes of Mary when she found him after having sought him
sorrowing. That which we win by prayer we should dedicate to God, as
Hannah dedicated Samuel. The gift came from heaven, let it go to heaven.
Prayer brought it, gratitude sang over it, let devotion consecrate it.
Here will be a special occasion for saying, “Of thine own have I given
unto thee.” Reader, is prayer your element or your weariness? Which?
[1] Chambers, O. (1986). My utmost for his highest: Selections for the year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering.
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