Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions Dec 31st

Morning, December 31

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,

if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”

John 7:37

Charles Spurgeon

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you by us.” What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul’s thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year’s last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as he cries to each of us,

“IF ANY MAN THIRST,

LET HIM

COME UNTO ME

AND DRINK.”

My Utmost for His Highest

December 31st

Yesterday

The God of Israel will be your rereward. Isaiah 52:12

Oswald Chambers

Security from Yesterday. “God requireth that which is past.” At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for To-morrow. “For the Lord will go before you.” This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rereward. God’s hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience.

Security for To-day. “For ye shall not go out with haste.” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.

Evening, December 31

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah 8:20

Charles Spurgeon

Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ. All these hopeful seasons have come and gone—your summer and your harvest have past—and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you—will you ever be saved? Is there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition? Means have failed with you—the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection—what more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you are till death for ever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!

Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. A brother’s voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit. Let not the new year’s midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, now, now believe, and live.

“Escape for thy life;

Look not behind thee,

Neither stay thou in all the plain;

Escape to the mountain,

Lest thou be consumed.”

God keeps a tear-bottle!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


(J.R. Miller, "Evening Thoughts" 1907)

"Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?" Psalm 56:8

Tears are sacred in God's sight. The Psalmist said that God keeps a tear-bottle, into which He puts the tears of His people. This means that God in Heaven hears the plashing of earth's tears. It means that His people's sorrows are sacred to Him, that He cherishes them, keeping them as memorials.

Our tears are precious to God, also, because in our sorrow He brings to us blessings which we never could receive but for our sorrow. One of our Lord's Beatitudes is for the sorrowing: "Blessed are those who mourn." It seems strange to us that mourning ones should be put among the blessed or happy ones. The reason is, because only those who suffer can get God's comfort, and this is such a blessing that it is worth while to have sorrow just to receive it.

God holds the tears of penitence as most sacred. Those who weep over their sins, cause joy in Heaven.

"And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment." Luke 7:37-38

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Trials and Pain: Underneath Are the Everlasting Arms

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, "Destroy!" —Deuteronomy 33:27
Surely Bible-reading Christians should be the last persons on earth to give way to hysteria. They are redeemed from their past offenses, kept in their present circumstances by the power of an all-powerful God, and their future is safe in His hands. God has promised to support them in the flood, protect them in the fire, feed them in famine, shield them against their enemies, hide them in His safe chambers until the indignation is past and receive them at last into eternal tabernacles.
If we are called upon to suffer, we may be perfectly sure that we shall be rewarded for every pain and blessed for every tear. Underneath will be the Everlasting Arms and within will be the deep assurance that all is well with our souls. Nothing can separate us from the love of God-not death, nor life, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
This is a big old world, and it is full of the habitations of darkness, but nowhere in its vast expanse is there one thing of which a real Christian need be afraid. Surely a fear-ridden Christian has never examined his or her defenses. This World: Playground or Battleground? pp. 7-8
"Lord, I'll go today in the power of these awesome promises. I'll rest in these strong assurances. I'll face this 'big old world' and its 'habitations of darkness' in complete peace as I trust You completely today. Amen."

http://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/tozer-on-leadership/2013/12/29

The description of the godly man

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


(J.R. Miller, "Evening Thoughts" 1907)

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Psalm 1:1-3

In this Psalm, the description of the godly man is first negative:
There are certain things he never does.
There are places in which he is never seen.
He does not make wicked men his advisers.
He is not seen with those who are evil.
No one ever sees him among mockers.
Thus the godly man is known by what he does not do.

Then there are certain things that the godly man does:
He loves God's word, reads it, and feeds upon it.
He is careful to live where his life may be nourished by the streams of grace.

As a result, he is like a tree in his beauty and in his fruitfulness. Fruit is the test of Christian character.

Then the godly man's life does not wither in heat or drought. It is perennial, and lives in all kinds of weather.

Another feature of his life is that everything he does prospers--not always in worldly things--but even in his losses and trials, he is still blessed. " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

God is love!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~



(James Smith, "Gleams of Grace!" 1860)

"God is love!" 1 John 4:16

God is love in His nature. As God's nature is love--so His love must be like His nature.

Is He INFINITE? Then His love must be infinite love; and so it is, for it not only surpasses expression--but is beyond conception. "The love of God which surpasses knowledge."

Is His nature ETERNAL? Then His love must be eternal, and it is; as He says, "I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself!"

Is He IMMUTABLE? Then His love must be immutable, and it is from everlasting to everlasting the same. "For I am the Lord, I do not change; that is why you . . . are not consumed!"

Is He WISE? Then His love must be wisely fixed, wisely exercised, and wisely displayed.

Is He JUST? Then His love must be just; and it is, for by loving His redeemed people--He never interferes with the rights of others, or in any way injures them.

Is He FREE in the exercise of His perfections and prerogatives? Then His love must be free, and it is as free . . .
as the shining of the sun,
as the falling of the shower,
as the descent of the dew!
God loves freely, without looking for a cause or reason in man.

Is He OMNIPOTENT? Then His love must be all-powerful; and blessed be His holy name, His sweet and gentle love always goes hand in hand with His omnipotence.

Is He HOLY? Then His love must be holy love, and so it is, for while it is fixed on the sinner--it never, directly, or indirectly, in any manner, or in any measure sanctions sin.

God is love, and the love of God is God Himself loving, in accordance with all the glorious attributes, and sublime perfections of His divine nature.

In Christ we were chosen,
in Christ we were blessed with all spiritual blessings,
in Christ we are preserved,
and in Christ we are loved.

To believers, God is love--pure, unmixed love.
All His thoughts of us are loving thoughts.
All His words to us are loving words.
All He does in us, for us, or to us--He does out of pure love!

"Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her!" Ephesians 5:25

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Trials and Pain: Nothing to Fear

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.—Isaiah 26:3
The only fear I have is to fear to get out of the will of God. Outside of the will of God, there's nothing I want, and in the will of God there's nothing I fear, for God has sworn to keep me in His will. If I'm out of His will, that is another matter. But if I'm in His will, He's sworn to keep me.
And He's able to do it, He's wise enough to know how to do it and He's kind enough to want to do it. So really there's nothing to fear.
I get kidded by my family and friends about this, but I don't really think I'm afraid of anything. Someone may ask, "What about cancer? Do you ever fear that you'll die of cancer?" Maybe so, but it will have to hurry up, or I'll die of old age first. But I'm not too badly worried because a man who dies of cancer in the will of God, is not injured; he's just dead. You can't harm a man in the will of God. Success and the Christian, pp. 80-81.
"Lord, 'outside of the will of God, there's nothing I want, and in the will of God there's nothing I fear.' Amen."

http://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/tozer-on-leadership/2013/12/28

True riches and honor!

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



(James Smith, "Gleams of Grace" 1860)

"Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come!" 1 Timothy 4:8

"Riches and honor are with Me. Yes, enduring wealth and righteousness!" Proverbs 8:18

Riches and honor fascinate worldly men--they will therefore risk anything and everything in the pursuit of them. Tell a poor man how he may get a fortune, or a rich man how he may rise to honor--and they are all attention, and are prepared to do your bidding. To meet this disposition in man, Wisdom presents itself as the source of riches and honor, saying, "Riches and honor are with Me. Yes, enduring wealth and righteousness!" Wisdom represents Christ. To possess Christ, is to possess unsearchable riches! (Ephesians 3:8)

THE WEALTH OF GODLINESS. "Riches are with Me." That is, all things necessary for life and godliness. The godly man is a truly wealthy man. A little of earth, with God's blessing, will go a long way with him. But the riches of godliness, are principally riches of grace--answering to that in nature, which procures food, clothing, medicine, residence, pleasure, and knowledge:
A godly man has bread to eat, which the world knows nothing of--even the bread of life, which came down from Heaven.
He is clothed with the best robe, even the Savior's righteousness; and wears the garments of salvation every day.
For his use, are the leaves of the tree of life, which heal the soul; and the famous balm of Gilead, which restores spiritual health, and preserves it.
To him, the Lord is a strong refuge, to which he may continually resort.
Of the divine rivers of pleasure he may drink.
He has an unction from the Holy One, and knows all things necessary for him to know.

The riches of grace, prepare for the riches of glory . . .
a glorious heavenly mansion,
a crown of righteousness, and
an unfading and incorruptible inheritance!

Godliness is true wealth. It puts a man in possession of all that he will need in life and in death--and all that he can enjoy throughout eternity! The godly man is always rich, and though he may appear to be poor--as there is much laid up for him in Heaven! These are desirable riches, they cannot be lost!

THE DIGNITY OF GODLINESS. "Honor is with Me." Not the honor of the world, which is like a fading flower--but "the honor which comes from God alone." Jesus, the King of Heaven, is the source and giver of all spiritual honor. All His people are raised to dignity. What honor can exceed this, to be . . .
the bride of the only begotten Son of God;
the children of the Most High God,
the brethren of the Lord of life and glory,
the joint heirs with Jesus, who is Heir of all things,
the forever friends of God, and
made eternal kings and priests!
O the dignity conferred on every believer in Jesus--the poorest, the weakest, the most despised of them!

A godly man is always honorable. He may be despised now, his sun may be obscured by some cloud at present--but it will soon burst forth in splendor and glory! The world knows him not--but then it knew not Jesus. He is like Jesus in his humiliation now--but he will be like Jesus in his glorification before long.

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Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions Dec 27th

Morning, December 27

“Can the rush grow up without mire?”

Job 8:11

Charles Spurgeon

The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution. I would not willingly be a deceiver or be deceived; perhaps the text for this day may help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. Its greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances, a present abundance of water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. Is this my case? Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from his hands? If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys. But can I honestly assert that when bodily comforts have been few, and my surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all helpful to it, I have still held fast my integrity? then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. The rush cannot grow without mire, but plants of the Lord’s right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. A godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay. He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas; they who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but they who attend him out of love to himself are his own beloved ones. Lord, let me find my life in thee, and not in the mire of this world’s favour or gain.

My Utmost for His Highest

December 27th

Where the battle’s lost and won

If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord.… Jeremiah 4:1

Oswald Chambers

The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before Him. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there. If I say—‘I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test,’ I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between myself and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God’s decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.

In dealing with other people, the line to take is to push them to an issue of will. That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God—“My Utmost for His Highest.”

Evening, December 27

“And the Lord shall guide thee continually.”

Isaiah 58:11

Charles Spurgeon

“The Lord shall guide thee.” Not an angel, but Jehovah shall guide thee. He said he would not go through the wilderness before his people, an angel should go before them to lead them in the way; but Moses said, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” Christian, God has not left you in your earthly pilgrimage to an angel’s guidance: he himself leads the van. You may not see the cloudy, fiery pillar, but Jehovah will never forsake you. Notice the word shall—“The Lord shall guide thee.” How certain this makes it! How sure it is that God will not forsake us! His precious “shalls” and “wills” are better than men’s oaths. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Then observe the adverb continually. We are not merely to be guided sometimes, but we are to have a perpetual monitor; not occasionally to be left to our own understanding, and so to wander, but we are continually to hear the guiding voice of the Great Shepherd; and if we follow close at his heels, we shall not err, but be led by a right way to a city to dwell in. If you have to change your position in life; if you have to emigrate to distant shores; if it should happen that you are cast into poverty, or uplifted suddenly into a more responsible position than the one you now occupy; if you are thrown among strangers, or cast among foes, yet tremble not, for “the Lord shall guide thee continually.” There are no dilemmas out of which you shall not be delivered if you live near to God, and your heart be kept warm with holy love. He goes not amiss who goes in the company of God. Like Enoch, walk with God, and you cannot mistake your road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. “Jehovah”—mark the word—“Jehovah shall guide thee continually.” 

O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



(James Smith, "Gleams of Grace" 1860)

"You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!" Psalm 119:4, 5

THE COMMAND. "You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently."
God's precepts are to be kept--we should keep them . . .
in our minds and memories, and
in our practice and daily behavior.

They are to be kept diligently . . .
as our rule of conduct,
as our guide in all of life.

They are to be kept with sincerity, promptness, and careful attention.

We should keep them as the command of God--of God who is our Father, the source and giver of all good things.

We should keep them too, as those who must give an account.

THE DEVOUT ASPIRATION. "O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!" This aspiration expresses a love to the precepts, and an approval of them. It intimates that there are hindrances or difficulties in the way of keeping them . . .
Satan hinders,
the world hinders,
the flesh hinders.

This aspiration is a recognition of our weakness--and a desire for Divine strength. Divine influence is necessary to enable us to keep God's statutes. He who gives the precept--must give the wisdom and the strength, necessary to observe it. He who requires obedience--is ready to give us ability to render it. Let us then take every precept to His throne of grace, and with a hearty desire to do all that God commands, just because he commands it, and with a view to His glory; and cry out from the depths of the soul, "O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!"

Beloved, if we perform duty in a right spirit, it will soon become our delight. It will . . .
bring us near to God,
keep us dependent on Jesus, and
lead us into close fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
It will preserve us from a thousand snares--and introduce us to a thousand unknown, and unexpected joys!

Gracious Lord, direct us daily, that we may keep your precepts diligently!
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Trials and Pain: Cooperate With the Inevitable

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.—Philippians 4:11
This idea was once expressed better by a simple-hearted man who was asked how he managed to live in such a state of constant tranquility even though surrounded by circumstances anything but pleasant. His answer was as profound as it was simple: "I have learned," he said, "to cooperate with the inevitable."...
Though we cannot control the universe, we can determine our attitude toward it. We can accept God's will wherever it is expressed and take toward it an attitude of worshipful resignation. If my will is to do God's will, then there will be no controversy with anything that comes in the course of my daily walk. Inclement weather, unpleasant neighbors, physical handicaps, adverse political conditions—all these will be accepted as God's will for the time and surrendered to provisionally, subject to such alterations as God may see fit to make, either by His own sovereign providence or in answer to believing prayer. Born After Midnight, pp. 64-65
"How can I complain in the light of the worderful gift of Your Son, born to give life-and victory? Work Your will in my life today as I celebrate the incarnation and all that it entails. Amen."

http://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/tozer-on-leadership/2013/12/25

An ocean of consolation!

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(James Smith, "Gleams of Grace" 1860)

"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ!" 2 Corinthians 1:5

There is great consolation in Christ's unvarying love. The love of Jesus is always the same. It never ebbs--but flows on in one continuous stream. His love is . . .
as ancient as eternity,
as strong as omnipotence, and
as unchangeable as His nature.

Creature love may fail, and creatures who love us today, may hate us tomorrow--but as Jesus ever lives, so Jesus ever loves. In His . . .
covenant engagements,
perfect sin-atoning work,
tender sympathy,
constant care,
prevalent intercession,
precious Word, and
unvarying love--
there is an ocean of consolation!

Jesus is . . .
our Substitute, restoring that which sin took away;
our Surety, paying all the debts we would contract;
our Shepherd, taking charge of our persons . . .
to nourish them,
to preserve them, and
to set them before His Father's face forever.

His obedience is our righteousness.
His blood is our ransom price.
His death is our life.

There is consolation in Christ's tender and constant care, which extends . . .
to all our circumstances,
to all that concerns us,
even to the very hairs of our heads!
He cares for . . .
our needs--to supply them,
our holy desires--to grant them,
our eternal salvation--to secure it.

There is always consolation in Christ. Whatever may be our outward circumstances, and they may be very trying . . .
in poverty and pain,
under losses and crosses,
however tempted or tried--
there is still consolation in Christ!

Creatures may prove crosses,
ordinances may be like wells without water,
providence may frown,
the meal barrel may be empty,
and the brook may dry up--
but there is still consolation in Christ.

Though . . .
harassed with doubts,
tormented with fears,
tortured with temptations,
shrouded in darkness, and
drinking the wine of astonishment
--there is still consolation in Christ.

All within may be discouraging, disheartening, and depressing--
our evidences may be lost,
our fears may be great,
our convictions may be painful,
and our terrors may be dreadful--
but there is still consolation in Christ.

Our immediate prospects may be dark . . .
all going out--and nothing coming in,
all losses--and no gains,
disease may be working in our body,
old age may be creeping upon us,
our business may be failing,
claims upon us may be increasing,
our families may be increasingly trying
--but there is still consolation in Christ!

Yes, though the crops fail,
though provisions give out,
though resources are cut off, and
poverty stares us in the face--let things be as bad as they may, and threaten to be ever so much worse--there is still consolation in Christ.

Yes, when all without us is dark, and all within us dreary;
when friends are removed, and enemies increase;
when with Jacob we are ready to look around and before us, and say, "All these things are against me!" There is still consolation in Christ!

As there is always consolation in Christ--we should learn . . .
to know and love Christ,
to know and love Him well,
to know and love Him experimentally,
to know and love Him in His person, offices, and work,
to know and love Him in His relations, characters, and love,
to know and love Him as our unchanging source of supply, comfort, and peace.

We should trust Christ at all times and in all circumstances.
However our experiences may vary--He is ever the same!
His Word is like the great mountains!
His heart is an ocean of love!
His faithfulness reaches to the very Heavens!

He is our strength, and we must look to Him to strengthen us.
He is our wisdom, and we must look to Him to counsel us.
He is our righteousness, and we must look to Him to justify us.
He is all in all to us, and therefore we must . . .
look to Him for all,
go to Him with all, and
expect Him to bring us through all.

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Trials and Pain: We Forget

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.—Hebrews 11:39-40
Then there is the matter of constant consolation and peace—the promise of always feeling relaxed and at rest and enjoying ourselves inwardly.
This, I say, has been held up as being quite the proper goal to be sought in the evil hour in which we live. We forget that our Lord was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. We forget the arrows of grief and pain which went through the heart of Jesus' mother, Mary. We forget that all of the apostles except John died a martyr's death. We forget that there were 13 million Christians slain during the first two generations of the Christian era. We forget that they languished in prison, that they were starved, were thrown over cliffs, were fed to the lions, were drowned, that they were sewn in sacks and thrown into the ocean....
There was much distress, many heartaches, painful bruises, flowing tears, much loss and many deaths.
But there is something better than being comfortable, and the followers of Christ ought to find it out-the poor, soft, overstuffed Christians of our time ought to find it out! There is something better than being comfortable!
We Protestants have forgotten altogether that there is such a thing as discipline and suffering. Who Put Jesus on the Cross? pp. 17-19
"Forgive me for complaining, Lord, about the few trials I've experienced. I've suffered nothing like the former saints-yet I so easily forget that and chafe at the discipline and suffering. Forgive me. Amen."

http://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/tozer-on-leadership/2013/12/24

PS: I am not a Protestant, but I think it is still true for Baptists.

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions Dec 24th

Morning, December 24

“For your sakes he became poor.”

2 Corinthians 8:9

Charles Spurgeon

The Lord Jesus Christ was eternally rich, glorious, and exalted; but “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.” As the rich saint cannot be true in his communion with his poor brethren unless of his substance he ministers to their necessities, so (the same rule holding with the head as between the members), it is impossible that our Divine Lord could have had fellowship with us unless he had imparted to us of his own abounding wealth, and had become poor to make us rich. Had he remained upon his throne of glory, and had we continued in the ruins of the fall without receiving his salvation, communion would have been impossible on both sides. Our position by the fall, apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible for fallen man to communicate with God as it is for Belial to be in concord with Christ. In order, therefore, that communion might be compassed, it was necessary that the rich kinsman should bestow his estate upon his poor relatives, that the righteous Saviour should give to his sinning brethren of his own perfection, and that we, the poor and guilty, should receive of his fulness grace for grace; that thus in giving and receiving, the One might descend from the heights, and the other ascend from the depths, and so be able to embrace each other in true and hearty fellowship. Poverty must be enriched by him in whom are infinite treasures before it can venture to commune; and guilt must lose itself in imputed and imparted righteousness ere the soul can walk in fellowship with purity. Jesus must clothe his people in his own garments, or he cannot admit them into his palace of glory; and he must wash them in his own blood, or else they will be too defiled for the embrace of his fellowship.

O believer, herein is love! For your sake the Lord Jesus “became poor” that he might lift you up into communion with himself.

My Utmost for His Highest

December 24th

The hidden life

Your life is hid with Christ in God. Col. 3:3

Oswald Chambers

The Spirit of God witnesses to the simple, almighty security of the life hid with Christ in God, and this is continually brought out in the Epistles. We talk as if it were the most precarious thing to live the sanctified life; it is the most secure thing, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The precarious thing is to try and live without God. If we are born again it is the easiest thing to live in right relationship to God and the most difficult thing to go wrong, if only we will heed God’s warnings and keep in the light.

When we think of being delivered from sin, of being filled with the Spirit, and of walking in the light, we picture the peak of a great mountain, very high and wonderful, and we say—‘Oh, but I could never live up there!’ But when we do get there by God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak, but a plateau where there is ample room to live and to grow. “Thou hast enlarged my steps under me.”

When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. When He says—“Let not your heart be troubled,” if you see Him I defy you to trouble your mind, it is a moral impossibility to doubt when He is there. Every time you get into personal contact with Jesus, His words are real. “My peace I give unto you,” it is a peace all over from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet, an irrepressible confidence. “Your life is hid with Christ in God,” and the imperturbable peace of Jesus Christ is imparted to you.

Evening, December 24

“The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

Isaiah 40:5

Charles Spurgeon

We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. Some despair of this. They look upon the world as a vessel breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We know that the world and all that is therein is one day to be burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that—

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

Does his successive journeys run.”

We are not discouraged by the length of his delays; we are not disheartened by the long period which he allots to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ’s blood shed upon it, to be always the devil’s stronghold. Christ came hither to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout shall that be when men and angels shall unite to cry “Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!” What a satisfaction will it be in that day to have had a share in the fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have aided in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are they who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with him, doing their little in his name and by his strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a losing side, and it is a matter wherein to lose is to lose and to be lost for ever. On whose side are you? 

What would Jesus do?

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(James Smith, "Gleams of Grace" 1860)

"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings." 1 Peter 2:21

To know more of Christ, and be more like Christ--are two of the principal things we have to attend to. In order to this, we must . . .
study God's Word,
be much at God's throne of grace,
depend on the empowerment of the Spirit,
and walk in fellowship with God's people.

We must consider how Jesus lived when here, and often ask, "What would Jesus do in my circumstances?"

Jesus should be our example, the model which we strive to copy every day.

In vain do we profess Christ, if we are not in some measure like Christ!

"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 John 2:6

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Trials and Pain: Happiness is Not the Goal

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.—2 Timothy 2:3-4
That we are born to be happy is scarcely questioned by anyone. No one bothers to prove that fallen men have any moral right to happiness, or that they are in the long run any better off happy. The only question before the house is how to get the most happiness out of life. Almost all popular books and plays assume that personal happiness is the legitimate end of the dramatic human struggle.
Now I submit that the whole hectic scramble after happiness is an evil as certainly as is the scramble after money or fame or success....
How far wrong all this is will be discovered easily by the simple act of reading the New Testament through once with meditation. There the emphasis is not upon happiness but upon holiness. God is more concerned with the state of people's hearts than with the state of their feelings. Undoubtedly the will of God brings final happiness to those who obey, but the most important matter is not how happy we are but how holy. The soldier does not seek to be happy in the field; he seeks rather to get the fighting over with, to win the war and get back home to his loved ones. There he may enjoy himself to the full; but while the war is on his most pressing job is to be a good soldier, to acquit himself like a man, regardless of how he feels. Of God and Men, pp. 48-49
"Oh Lord, redirect my focus. Help me today to be a 'good soldier of Jesus Christ.' Amen."

http://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/tozer-on-leadership/2013/12/23

Unconscious unpurposed influences

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(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

It is not what a man does or says purposely and with direct intention, which leaves the deepest mark in the world and in other lives--but it is the unconscious unpurposed influences which go out from him like the fragrances from a garden. Character is not necessarily what the man does--but what the man is!

There are great multitudes of humble Christian lives lived on the earth, which have no name among men, whose work no pen records and no marble immortalizes--but which are well known and unspeakably dear to God; and whose influence will be seen, in the end, to reach to farthest shores. They make no noise in the world--but it does not need noise to make a life beautiful and noble. Many of God's most potent ministries are noiseless.

How silently all day long the sunbeams fall upon the fields and gardens--and yet what cheer, what inspiration, what life and beauty they diffuse!

How silently the flowers bloom--and yet what rich blessings of beauty and fragrance do they emit!

How silently the stars move on in their majestic marches around God's throne--and yet the telescope shows us that they are mighty worlds representing utterly incalculable power!

The silent personal influence of a holy Christian has a healing, life-giving effect wherever it falls. Such a man goes about his daily duty as other men do; but, while he is engaged in common things, he is continually dropping seeds of blessing, which spring up behind him in heavenly beauty and fragrance!

In all true living, while men execute their greater plans--they are ever unintentionally performing a series of unconscious acts which often yield most beneficent and far-reaching results. There is a wayside ministry, for instance, made up of countless little courtesies, gentle words, mere passing touches on the lives of those we meet casually, impulses given by our salutations, influences flowing indirectly from the things we do and the words we speak--a ministry undesigned, unplanned, unnoted, merely incidental--and yet it is impossible to measure the wondrous results of these unconscious acts of usefulness.
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Sovereign Grace Missionary BaptistChurch 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 December 22, 2013 Newsletter Number 444 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty Years”

You Were Asked To Pray For: All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East, Zee Mink Fuller and Family, Her son’s Bryan Armstrong and Hunter Hackie, Daughter Shannon, and Brother Philip & Sondra Thornsberry, Junior Baldridge, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, Robert Riggs, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie and Sarah Henderson, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Children, Ricky Henderson and Family, Jacie Henderson, Velma Hammond, Charles, Don Hammond and Families, Archie & Barbara Griffin, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Sister Nita Bookout, Teresa Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, Lee Mollette’s Daughter & Granddaughter Kristal, Pat Abercrombie, Barbara Brewer, Donna Jones, Dale and Linda Trahan, Ricky and Margaret McCoy, Brother David O’Neal, Tommy Walker and family, Diane Thomas, Gina Peel, James and Lynn Tomlin, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Robert, Megan Whitaker, Manual Seymour, Sr. Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, Brother Steve and Kimberlee McCool, Brother Curtis Pugh, Brother Dan Sullivan and the work in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

From Our Pastor: Don't Let Things Separate Our Love One For The Other. John 15:12 "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." As Christians we are to have the richest love one for the other, just as Christ loved us. What kind of love is that; well it is the kind of love that brought Him from glory to give His life for us. Sometimes Christians believe so much in their doctrine that we allow ourselves to get caught up in distastefulness of other believers and so much so that we cannot worship together. As Christians we must be tolerant of other Christians. We are not all the same, we differ in many ways. We must understand there is a human element to our belief and none of us are perfect. The Lord said to those who wanted to stone the adulteress woman "... He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." John 8:7 I add "let him that is perfect condemn all that are not like him" I have said this many times and will always say, because we find ourselves condemning other who are not just like we are. We will all stand before Jesus Christ in judgment and He will divide what is right and what is wrong, it is He that will correct us all and cause us to believe the absolute truth. Our duty to Him in this world is to love other believers no matter what. We are brothers and sister in Christ not judges of one another. We don't need to bring harm to ourselves by mocking or even disliking other Christians because of their belief. Christ Jesus gave us no "except" in His command to love one another and those that make that exception is in violation of the scriptures and the commandment of Christ. I hear this time of year Christians misbehaving because of the worldly holiday of Christmas. As with a lot of things we disagree on the holiday and allow it to bring harm to our relationship to others believers in Christ. Let us remember we are what we are by Gods grace and if God wanted your Christian friend to be like you then He would have made you colons of one another. While believers in Christ may disagree on the Christmas holiday does not make the other one bad and it does not allow one side or the other to condemn the other. I have always said that you as a Christian do with Christmas as you fill you must do, and to those who do not celebrate the holiday then do as you must. Christmas is a worldly holiday full of worldliness and little to none about Christ Jesus. I do not believe Christmas is a just celebration for a church of Jesus Christ. It was not a part of the Lords first church and is not a part of ours today. I believe a good study of the holiday will prove it is 1. pagan and 2. Catholic and we are neither at our church, we are Baptist and not Catholic. With this thought in mind it is a sin to condemn other believers for their thinking on the holiday. If we allow this holiday to separate us as Christians then we all do a disservice to Jesus Christ. I can think of far worst thing a Christian can do than to celebrate Christmas. We are not allowed to condemn, mock, talk about, laugh at, or etc, etc, etc, at other Christians over their belief of a worldly holiday. We are to love one another unconditionally as Christ has loved us. You will not find Him condemning, mocking, talking about, laughing at, or etc, etc, etc, you because you are a sinner and continue to be even though you are a Christian. He loves us so much He gave His own life for our sins, even when we were enemies with Him, He still loved us. Don't allow things come between us that are really meaningless in the big picture of things. All believers are Gods children and all are loved of the Lord no matter what.

For Our Weekly Meditation: That unclean donkey is yourself!"You must redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb. But if you do not redeem it—you must kill the donkey by breaking its neck!" Exodus 34:20 Every firstborn creature must be the Lord's—but since the donkey was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice to Him. What then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By no means! God admits of no exceptions. The donkey is His due—but He will not accept it; He will not abate the claim—but yet He cannot be pleased with the unclean victim. No way of escape remained, but redemption—the donkey must be saved by the substitution of a lamb in its place; or if not redeemed, it must die! My soul, here is a lesson for you! That unclean donkey is yourself! You are justly the property of the Lord who made you and preserves you—but you are so sinful that God will not, cannot, accept you! It has come to this—the Lamb of God must stand in your stead—or you must die eternally! Let all the world know of your gratitude to that spotless Lamb who has died for you, and so redeemed you from the fatal curse of the law! Must it not sometimes have been a question with the Israelite, as to which should die—the donkey or the lamb? Would not the man pause to estimate and compare the values of these animals? Assuredly there was no comparison between the value of a sinful man—and the spotless Lord Jesus! Yet the Lamb dies—and man the donkey is spared! My soul, admire the boundless love of God to you! Vile worms are bought—with the blood of the holy Lamb of God! Dust and ashes are redeemed—with a price far above silver and gold! What a doom would have been mine—had not plenteous redemption been found! The breaking of the neck of the donkey was but a momentary penalty. But who shall measure the eternal wrath to come—to which no limit can be imagined! Inestimably dear is the glorious Lamb—who has redeemed me from such a doom! By Charles Spurgeon

A thought For The Week: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Matthew 6:13

Broken people!

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(Don Fortner)

"The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit." Psalm 34:18

A broken heart, a contrite spirit, and a subdued will are rare things, especially in this age in which men everywhere are taught to demand their rights; and the church has become a place where man is exalted and enshrined as though he were God. Self-esteem, self-worth, and self-promotion is the cry of the day. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. All men by nature are exceedingly proud, selfish people.

Preachers today, knowing man's natural pride, have capitalized upon it. They have developed a flesh-pleasing theology of pride. Our forefathers exalted the dignity, the majesty, and the supremacy of the eternal God. But the smooth-tongued preachers of deceit in our day have set themselves to exalt the dignity, majesty, and supremacy of puny man! It seems that religion today is dedicated not to the honor of God, but to the honor of man. Its purpose is to make man feel good about himself. Therefore we hear little about . . .
brokenness of heart,
contrition of the soul, and
the subduing of man's will.

The Lord God declares, "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My Word!" (Isaiah 66:2). God will have broken hearts with which to build His kingdom. Sooner or later, the Lord God will bring us to nothingness before His presence. God's people, all of God's people are a broken people.

No man has ever experienced the grace of God in salvation, until his heart is thoroughly broken before the holy Lord God, revealed in the crucified Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. If ever a man finds out:
who he is,
who God is,
who the Lord Jesus Christ is,
and what He has done for sinners
--he will be a broken man!

When Job saw himself in the presence of his three miserable friends, he vindicated himself. But when he stood in the presence of God, he was a broken man; and he spoke as a broken man. He saw himself in all the hideousness of his sin; and he saw God in all the holiness of His glorious majesty. Then he said, "Behold I am vile! I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes!" There is no pride and egotism here, no haughtiness, no self-vindication. Once Job had seen the Lord--he was broken, he loathed himself and blamed himself. Once Job saw the Lord--he honored God and vindicated Him. The truly broken heart will always vindicate God, no matter the cost.

This brokenness can be produced in proud, stubborn, sinful men and women--only by the saving revelation of Christ in our hearts. Brokenness is found at the cross--only at the cross. Have you been to the cross? Have you had the crucified Christ revealed in your heart? Has your heart been broken by the knowledge of the Lord? O Lord, evermore break our hearts before You!

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." Psalm 51:17

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There must be no conditions in the following of Christ

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(J.R. Miller, "Help for the Day")

"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me!" Luke 9:23

Christ calls for absolute surrender to Him. He wants us to trust Him, while we obey Him unquestioningly.

The faith in Christ which the gospel requires, is the utter unreserved devotement of the whole life to Him, and the absolute committal to Him for time and for eternity, of every interest and hope.

The question of what He will do with us or for us, or how He will provide for us--should not for an instant be raised. There must be no conditions in the following of Christ, and the consecration to Him. We may not bargain with Him for an easy time, for "ways of pleasantness," but should simply give ourselves to Him absolutely and forever, to follow where, and to whatever He may lead us.

"Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple!" Luke 14:27

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The first Christmas carol

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14
Suggested Further Reading: Romans 14:5-9
I wish everybody that keeps Christmas this year, would keep it as the angels kept it. There are many persons who, when they talk about keeping Christmas, mean by that the cutting of the bands of their religion for one day in the year, as if Christ were the Lord of misrule, as if the birth of Christ should be celebrated like the orgies of Bacchus. There are some very religious people, that on Christmas would never forget to go to church in the morning; they believe Christmas to be nearly as holy as Sunday, for they reverence the tradition of the elders. Yet their way of spending the rest of the day is very remarkable; for if they see their way straight up stairs to their bed at night, it must be by accident. They would not consider they had kept Christmas in a proper manner, if they did not verge on gluttony and drunkenness. There are many who think Christmas cannot possibly be kept, except there be a great shout of merriment and mirth in the house, and added to that the boisterousness of sin. Now, my brethren, although we, as successors of the Puritans, will not keep the day in any religious sense whatever, attaching nothing more to it than to any other day: believing that every day may be a Christmas for ought we know, and wishing to make every day Christmas, if we can, yet we must try to set an example to others how to behave on that day; and specially since the angels gave glory to God: let us do the same. Once more the angels said, “Peace to men”: let us labour if we can to make peace next Christmas day.
For meditation: The unconverted cannot understand why Christians do not join them in their wild Christmas celebrations (1 Peter 4:3-4); those who celebrate the event without being able to give a sensible reason for doing so, are providing us with wonderful opportunities to give a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15).
Sermon no. 168
20 December (1857)
C.H. Spurgeon

A life of simple, active, and absolute dependence on Jesus!

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(James Smith, "Gleams of Grace" 1860)

"Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need!" Hebrews 4:16

Let us have sincere daily dealings with Christ, bringing . . .
our sins to Him--that He may pardon them;
our duties to Him--that He may purify, perfume, and present them to His Father;
our hearts to Him--that He may cleanse them, soften them, and sanctify them;
our troubles, trials, and temptations to Him--that He may give us strength to bear them, and grace to sanctify them, and that He may make them all work for our eternal good.

We must come to Christ . . .
for all that we need,
with all that troubles us, and
through all that opposes our progress.
We must make Jesus our strength--as well as our righteousness; and look to Him as a fountain to supply us--as well as a foundation to support us.

Absolute dependence on Jesus--to be utterly helpless, is a blessed state! Then we are safe, for we dare not . . .
look to self,
depend on self, or
rest in any religious observances.
We must . . .
look to Jesus,
cleave to Jesus,
live on Jesus.
Then all boasting is prevented, and all confidence in the flesh is destroyed.

Our strength arises from a sense of our weakness,
our safety arises from a sense of our danger, and
our wealth arises from a sense of our poverty.

Weak in self--we are strong in Christ.
Exposed to danger in self--we are safe in Christ.
Poor in self--we are wealthy in Christ!

The life we live must be a life of simple, active, and absolute dependence on Jesus!

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Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions Dec 19th

Morning, December 19

“The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.”

Proverbs 16:33

Charles Spurgeon

If the disposal of the lot is the Lord’s whose is the arrangement of our whole life? If the simple casting of a lot is guided by him, how much more the events of our entire life—especially when we are told by our blessed Saviour: “The very hairs of your head are all numbered: not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father.” It would bring a holy calm over your mind, dear friend, if you were always to remember this. It would so relieve your mind from anxiety, that you would be the better able to walk in patience, quiet, and cheerfulness as a Christian should. When a man is anxious he cannot pray with faith; when he is troubled about the world, he cannot serve his Master, his thoughts are serving himself. If you would “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” all things would then be added unto you. You are meddling with Christ’s business, and neglecting your own when you fret about your lot and circumstances. You have been trying “providing” work and forgetting that it is yours to obey. Be wise and attend to the obeying, and let Christ manage the providing. Come and survey your Father’s storehouse, and ask whether he will let you starve while he has laid up so great an abundance in his garner? Look at his heart of mercy; see if that can ever prove unkind! Look at his inscrutable wisdom; see if that will ever be at fault. Above all, look up to Jesus Christ your Intercessor, and ask yourself, while he pleads, can your Father deal ungraciously with you? If he remembers even sparrows, will he forget one of the least of his poor children? “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

My soul, rest happy in thy low estate,

Nor hope nor wish to be esteem’d or great;

To take the impress of the Will Divine,

Be that thy glory, and those riches thine.

My Utmost for His Highest

December 19th

What to concentrate on

I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34

Oswald Chambers

Never be sympathetic with the soul whose case makes you come to the conclusion that God is hard. God is more tender than we can conceive, and every now and again He gives us the chance of being the rugged one that He may be the tender One. If a man cannot get through to God it is because there is a secret thing he does not intend to give up—‘I will admit I have done wrong, but I no more intend to give up that thing than fly.’ It is impossible to deal sympathetically with a case like that: we have to get right deep down to the root until there is antagonism and resentment against the message. People want the blessing of God, but they will not stand the thing that goes straight to the quick.

If God has had His way with you, your message as His servant is merciless insistence on the one line, cut down to the very root, otherwise there will be no healing. Drive home the message until there is no possible refuge from its application. Begin to get at people where they are until you get them to realize what they lack, and then erect the standard of Jesus Christ for their lives—‘We never can be that!’ Then drive it home: ‘Jesus Christ says you must.’ ‘But how can we be?’ ‘You cannot, unless you have a new Spirit’ (Luke 11:13).

There must be a sense of need before your message is of any use. Thousands of people are happy without God in this world. If I was happy and moral till Jesus came, why did He come? Because that kind of happiness and peace is on a wrong level; Jesus Christ came to send a sword through every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.

Evening, December 19

“And there was no more sea.”

Revelation 21:1

Charles Spurgeon

Scarcely could we rejoice at the thought of losing the glorious old ocean: the new heavens and the new earth are none the fairer to our imagination, if, indeed, literally there is to be no great and wide sea, with its gleaming waves and shelly shores. Is not the text to be read as a metaphor, tinged with the prejudice with which the Oriental mind universally regarded the sea in the olden times? A real physical world without a sea it is mournful to imagine, it would be an iron ring without the sapphire which made it precious. There must be a spiritual meaning here. In the new dispensation there will be no division—the sea separates nations and sunders peoples from each other. To John in Patmos the deep waters were like prison walls, shutting him out from his brethren and his work: there shall be no such barriers in the world to come. Leagues of rolling billows lie between us and many a kinsman whom to-night we prayerfully remember, but in the bright world to which we go there shall be unbroken fellowship for all the redeemed family. In this sense there shall be no more sea. The sea is the emblem of change; with its ebbs and flows, its glassy smoothness and its mountainous billows, its gentle murmurs and its tumultuous roarings, it is never long the same. Slave of the fickle winds and the changeful moon, its instability is proverbial. In this mortal state we have too much of this; earth is constant only in her inconstancy, but in the heavenly state all mournful change shall be unknown, and with it all fear of storm to wreck our hopes and drown our joys. The sea of glass glows with a glory unbroken by a wave. No tempest howls along the peaceful shores of paradise. Soon shall we reach that happy land where partings, and changes, and storms shall be ended! Jesus will waft us there. Are we in him or not? This is the grand question.