We soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive!

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(James Smith, "The Great Comforter" 1858)

"It is the Spirit who quickens; the flesh profits nothing." John 6:63

All real religion begins with the quickening of the Spirit. When we experience this . . .
we begin to breathe after spiritual things;
we open our eyes in a new world;
we hunger and thirst after righteousness;
and at length taste that the Lord is gracious.
We then have . . .
new thoughts,
new desires,
new hopes,
new fears,
new joys, and
new sorrows.
The eye fixes on Christ,
the heart goes out to Christ, and
the chief desire of the soul is to be like Christ.

The Spirit not only quickens us at first--but all through life we need and are dependent on the Spirit's quickening. He quickens us to pray, and He quickens us in prayer. It is His quickening which puts . . .
life into our graces,
energy into our prayers,
confidence into our expectations, and
enables us to resist Satan, steadfast in the faith.

If His quickening power is withheld--we soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive! We have . . .
no power in prayer,
no enjoyment in ordinances,
no liberty in speaking to the saints,
nor profit in reading God's Word.
Every duty becomes a task,
every privilege becomes a burden, and
every cross appears insupportable!

While under the quickening operation of the Spirit--we can do all things; but without His quickening--we can do nothing.

Often, very often, have we to cry out from bitter experience, "My soul cleaves unto the dust; quicken me according unto Your Word!" Psalm 119:25

Quickening Spirit, daily quicken my soul!

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 30, 2015

As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

My prayer: Father, I stand in complete amazement of Your unrelenting love for Your children. Thank You for the blood of Your Son and the eternal grace that You pour out upon us. It seems so unbelievable that You choose to remove and forget our many transgressions against you. Yet You do just that! Make us worthy of Your remarkable mercy and grace.

Psalm 18

Psa 18:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
Psa 18:2  The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psa 18:3  I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
Psa 18:4  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
Psa 18:5  The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
Psa 18:6  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
Psa 18:7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
Psa 18:8  There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Psa 18:9  He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
Psa 18:10  And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
Psa 18:11  He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Psa 18:12  At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
Psa 18:13  The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Psa 18:14  Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
Psa 18:15  Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
Psa 18:16  He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
Psa 18:17  He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
Psa 18:18  They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
Psa 18:19  He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Psa 18:20  The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
Psa 18:21  For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Psa 18:22  For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
Psa 18:23  I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
Psa 18:24  Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
Psa 18:25  With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
Psa 18:26  With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
Psa 18:27  For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
Psa 18:28  For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
Psa 18:29  For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
Psa 18:30  As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Psa 18:31  For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
Psa 18:32  It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
Psa 18:33  He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
Psa 18:34  He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
Psa 18:35  Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
Psa 18:36  Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
Psa 18:37  I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
Psa 18:38  I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
Psa 18:39  For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
Psa 18:40  Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
Psa 18:41  They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
Psa 18:42  Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
Psa 18:43  Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
Psa 18:44  As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
Psa 18:45  The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
Psa 18:46  The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
Psa 18:47  It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
Psa 18:48  He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
Psa 18:49  Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
Psa 18:50  Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions June 29th

Morning, June 29

“Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14

Charles Spurgeon

Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility. “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise,” is the whisper of Christ to every dying saint. They “sleep in Jesus,” but their souls are before the throne of God, praising him day and night in his temple, singing hallelujahs to him who washed them from their sins in his blood. The body sleeps in its lonely bed of earth, beneath the coverlet of grass. But what is this sleep? The idea connected with sleep is “rest,” and that is the thought which the Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes each night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts fast the door of the soul, and bids all intruders tarry for a while, that the life within may enter its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn believer quietly sleeps, as does the weary child when it slumbers on its mother’s breast. Oh! happy they who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. Their quiet repose shall never be broken until God shall rouse them to give them their full reward. Guarded by angel watchers, curtained by eternal mysteries, they sleep on, the inheritors of glory, till the fulness of time shall bring the fulness of redemption. What an awaking shall be theirs! They were laid in their last resting place, weary and worn, but such they shall not rise. They went to their rest with the furrowed brow, and the wasted features, but they wake up in beauty and glory. The shrivelled seed, so destitute of form and comeliness, rises from the dust a beauteous flower. The winter of the grave gives way to the spring of redemption and the summer of glory. Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power, disrobes us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding garment of incorruption. Blessed are those who “sleep in Jesus.”

My Utmost for His Highest

June 29th

Direction of discipline

And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee:

for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,

and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Matthew 5:30

Oswald Chambers

Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off the right hand, but—‘If your right hand offends you in your walk with Me, cut it off.’ There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says if it hinders you in following His precepts, cut it off. This line of discipline is the sternest one that ever struck mankind.

When God alters a man by regeneration, the characteristic of the life to begin with is that it is maimed. There are a hundred and one things you dare not do, things that to you and in the eyes of the world that knows you are as your right hand and your eye, and the unspiritual person says—‘Whatever is wrong in that? How absurd you are!’ There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s. In the beginning Jesus Christ by His Spirit has to check you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. See that you do not use your limitations to criticize someone else.

It is a maimed life to begin with, but in v. 48 Jesus gives the picture of a perfectly full-orbed life—“Ye shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Evening, June 29

“Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon,

who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”

2 Chronicles 32:31

Charles Spurgeon

Hezekiah was growing so inwardly great, and priding himself so much upon the favour of God, that self-righteousness crept in, and through his carnal security, the grace of God was for a time, in its more active operations, withdrawn. Here is quite enough to account with the Babylonians; for if the grace of God should leave the best Christian, there is enough of sin in his heart to make him the worst of transgressors. If left to yourselves, you who are warmest for Christ would cool down like Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness: you who are sound in the faith would be white with the leprosy of false doctrine; you who now walk before the Lord in excellency and integrity would reel to and fro, and stagger with a drunkenness of evil passion. Like the moon, we borrow our light; bright as we are when grace shines on us, we are darkness itself when the Sun of Righteousness withdraws himself. Therefore let us cry to God never to leave us. “Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from us! Withdraw not from us thine indwelling grace! Hast thou not said, ‘I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day’? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we should deny thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us labouring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need thee, O our God!” 

If you hunt the butterfly of wealth too eagerly!

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(Charles Spurgeon, "A Good Start!")

He who loses godliness to gain gold--is a great cheater of himself.

Keep yourselves entirely for Christ. Live above the world. Its goods will come to you--when you do not bid too high for them. If you hunt the butterfly of wealth too eagerly--you may spoil it by the grasp with which you secure it!

When earthly things are sought for as the main object, they are degraded into rubbish, and the seeker of them has fallen to be like Bunyan's man with a muck-rake, turning over a dunghill to find nothing. Set your heart on nobler things than lucre! Let us so live that it will be safe for God to add to us the blessings of the present life; but that can only be done with safety, when we have learned to keep the world under our feet.

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness--and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 29, 2015

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

Praise the Almighty King! May all glory be given to the Father who is conforming us to His righteousness. In spite of our wicked sin nature, God takes great joy to mold our hearts into His beautiful uprightness. For we are also promised that every good work in us comes from Him for the purpose of His honour (Hebrews 13:21).

Psalm 17

Psa 17:1  A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
Psa 17:2  Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
Psa 17:3  Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
Psa 17:4  Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
Psa 17:5  Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
Psa 17:6  I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
Psa 17:7  Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
Psa 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
Psa 17:9  From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
Psa 17:10  They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
Psa 17:11  They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
Psa 17:12  Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
Psa 17:14  From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
Psa 17:15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

The best kind of preaching!

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(William Jay, 1769-1853)

What I have always deemed the best kind of preaching is neither highly doctrinal nor overly practical; but distinguished by what I would call experimental--or a constant blending of the doctrines and practice of the Gospel, strongly with the affections and feelings. Many have been sadly deficient here. Their sermons have had theology enough in them, and practical enough; but there was little in them to rend and melt the heart!

"Is not My Word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" Jeremiah 23:29

"He is not the best preacher who tickles the ear--but who breaks the heart!" (Thomas Brooks)

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Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Three Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 June 28, 2015 Newsletter Number 522 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com

Our Prayer Request: 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, Johnnie Stephens, Alecia Stephens, and children, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette and Her Family, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Doris Hammock, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family, 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, Donna Johnson, Mark Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy Fails, Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, James and Lynn Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, James, Diane & Brooke Thomas, Trent and Tiffanie Thomas, Gina Peel, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Megan Whitaker, Tammy Hairston and family, Manual Seymour, Sr., Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, James Hedges, Sister Corene Thomas, 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.

A Thought From Our Pastor: “Gay Marriage” "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (27.) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." Romans 1:26– 27 As most, if not all know by now the nine black robe judges called the Supreme Court change the law on Gay marriage. Personally I am totally against this decision. I believe the majority of the citizens of the United Stated are also against it. God has not changed, He is also against it. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of it. Personally I put the gay marriage ruling right up there with abortion. For people to say that it is harmless is to change the word of God into a lie. Romans 1:24 - 25 "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (25.) Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." The truth is God does not change; He will always hate the sin of homosexuality, just as He will always hate abortions. There are some Gays who say they are Christians, I am not the judge of who Christians are and who are not, therefore their salvation is in the hands of God. Christians can be out of serving God and sinning against God, however sin is sin and God does not draw close to a willing sinner. 1 John 1:6 - 7 "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (7.) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." We as Christians and churches are not judges and therefore it is not up us to condemn anyone for their lifestyles or life choices. This world is at enmity with God and will serve the rule of lawlessness over the law of God every time and with every opportunity. I believe the gospel and the word of God is to be preached to every person and with endless love. The Lord told us in Romans 12:18 "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." It is only right that we live peaceably among them “If it be possible”. It cannot be possible if this is forced upon the churches and Pastor. Personally I have no power to stop abortion or gay marriage; however I do have the right and power to refuse to be a part of either one. I will never officiate a marriage between two same sex people or be a part in it in any way just as I would not attend an abortion. Our church will never be forced to allow gay couples to be married in our church or on church owned property. This is not being mean, it is being godly. I know that this fight is not over; the laws created by the State of Texas protecting Pastors will someday be in the court systems being challenged and nine lost souls in black robes will once again rule against God and the churches. However, it will not change my thoughts on this subject because I believe God told me “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." My service to God means more to me than any carnal law. "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7.) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8.) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Romans 8:6 – 8 I may not be perfect but I do seek to please God and obey God over man. Peter preached "...We ought to obey God rather than men” Acts 5:29 and that we will do. I have no issues with the world being the world and if some Christians want to ignore Gods word and fight for peoples rights to disobey God then fine, but please exclude me and Christians like me from you disobedience. Personally I will go to jail before I am made to officiate a same sex couples wedding. Millions of Christians before me went to jail and/or died standing on Gods truths.

A Though For Your Bible Study: If we spend our time on the newspaper, or sit hour after hour reading trashy novels! "Take a mirror and turn it toward Heaven — and there you shall see the reflection of Heaven, the clouds and things above. Turn it downward toward the earth, you shall see the reflection of the earth, trees, meadows, men. Just so does the soul receive a reflection from the things to which it is set. If the heart is set toward Heaven — that puts you into a heavenly frame. If you set your heart on earthly objects — you are a man of the earth!" Are our thoughts and our affections full of worldliness? Let us make good use of the above figure, and turn the mirror the other way. Our mind will readily enough reflect divine things, if we turn it in that direction. Let us see if it is not so. Prayerfully read your Bible, or some lively devotional book — and see if the heart is not immediately filled with holy and heavenly reflections. At any rate, if we spend our time on the newspaper, or sit hour after hour reading trashy novels — we have no reason to wonder that thought and heart go after vanity! The turning of the mind upward is half the battle. We cannot expect it to reflect that toward which it does not turn. Those who mind earthly things — are earthly. Those who set their affections upon things above — are heavenly. Paul shows how practically useful it is to turn the mind Godward, when he says that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." We may well cry concerning this matter, "Turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned!" If we cannot see divine truth to our enjoyment — let us nevertheless look that way; for that eye is blessed which looks in the direction of the light. He who would behold the sun at its rising — must look to the east. Just so, he who would see God as his delight — must look Godward. If the mirror of the soul is resolutely set toward the Lord, we shall with open face behold, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, and be changed into the same image from glory to glory! O, my blessed Master, help me I beseech you, to keep the mirror of my mind in the right position — that evermore I may see You! True, it will be but as in a dark mirror, but even that will be a marvelous preparation for beholding You face to face in glory! "Those who live according to the sinful nature — have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit — have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Romans 8:5 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things!" Colossians 3:1-2 By Charles Spurgeon, from his "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883

A spiritual playpen where the crying babies must be appeased!

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(Joseph Bianchi)

In the twenty-first century, we are obsessed with self-satisfaction and getting our desires met. Hence, any teaching that invades our lifestyle and tells us we must alter or discard out old habits, is usually consigned to the junk pile. In so thinking and doing, the church has been transformed into a spiritual playpen where the crying babies must be appeased with what makes them feel good.

The Evangelical world is abuzz with terms like "purpose driven church" or "seeker friendly church". What these terms really amount to is one thing: compromise.

The goal of churches should not be to see how much like the world they can be, so as to make worldly people feel comfortable. Rather, the churches should be so unlike the world, so alien to the world, that the disillusioned unbeliever will be drawn to them.

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?
What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 27, 2015

The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth [him with] his hand. I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. [He is] ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed [is] blessed. (Psalm 37:23-26)

Never shall the Lord forsake the righteous. Never shall the bride of Christ want for any good thing. The Lord is kind and merciful and will always see fit to bless His people whom He loves so dearly. Rejoice in and give thanks for the Lord's constancy! He shall never fail and we shall never be ashamed.

Psalm 16

Psa 16:1  Michtam of David. Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
Psa 16:2  O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
Psa 16:3  But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
Psa 16:4  Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
Psa 16:5  The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
Psa 16:7  I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions June 26th

Morning, June 26

“Art thou become like unto us?”

Isaiah 14:10

Charles Spurgeon

What must be the apostate professor’s doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear that voice, “Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from me: I also have banished thee for ever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee.” What will be this wretch’s shame at the last great day when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him. “There he is,” says one, “will he preach the gospel in hell?” “There he is,” says another, “he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!” “Aha!” says another, “here comes a psalm-singing Methodist—one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life; and here he is!” No greater eagerness will ever be seen among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell. Mind that back-way to hell, professors! “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Look well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it. O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

My Utmost for His Highest

June 26th

Always now

We … beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 Cor. 6:1

Oswald Chambers

The grace you had yesterday will not do for to-day. Grace is the overflowing favour of God; you can always reckon it is there to draw upon. “In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses”—that is where the test for patience comes. Are you failing the grace of God there? Are you saying—‘Oh, well, I won’t count this time?’ It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you; it is taking the grace of God now. We make prayer the preparation for work, it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say—‘I will endure this until I can get away and pray.’ Pray now; draw on the grace of God in the moment of need. Prayer is the most practical thing, it is not the reflex action of devotion. Prayer is the last thing in which we learn to draw on God’s grace.

“In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours,”—in all these things manifest a drawing upon the grace of God that will make you a marvel to yourself and to others. Draw now, not presently: The one word in the spiritual vocabulary is Now. Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in every conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace.

“Having nothing …” Never reserve anything. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful about the treasure God gives. This is poverty triumphant.

Evening, June 26

“Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

2 Peter 1:4

Charles Spurgeon

Vanish for ever all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in the power of your risen Lord. It were ill that a man who is alive in Christ should dwell in the corruption of sin. “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” said the angel to Magdalene. Should the living dwell in the sepulchre? Should divine life be immured in the charnel house of fleshly lust? How can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink the cup of Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and delusive lime-twigs of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth from the lust of pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped from carnal security? Are you seeking day by day to live above worldliness, the pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this that you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you be indeed the chosen of God, and beloved by him, do not suffer all the lavish treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. Follow after holiness; it is the Christian’s crown and glory. An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell’s laughter, heaven’s abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You are God’s priest: act as such. You are God’s king: reign over your lusts. You are God’s chosen: do not associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live like a heavenly spirit, so shall you prove that you have true faith in Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there be holiness in the life.

“Lord, I desire to live as one

Who bears a blood-bought name,

As one who fears but grieving thee,

And knows no other shame.”

This God is mine, in all His glorious perfection!

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(Archibald Brown, "This God Is Our God!" 1896)

"The LORD's portion is His people!" Deuteronomy 32:9

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" Lamentations 3:24

The above two passages of Scripture ought never to be separated.
God and my soul possess each other.
God finds his portion in His people--and His people find their portion in God!

This God is mine, in all His glorious perfection!
His heart is mine--for He loves me.
His ear is mine--for I may pour into it all my tales of sorrow, and all my songs of joy.
His eyes are mine--for they watch me from morning until night.
His hand is mine--for it is stretched out to uphold me.

Oh, He is a God of infinite glory! Abased in the very dust, and half bewildered by the thought, I yet dare to look up, and say, "This God is my God forever and ever! He will be my guide even unto death!" Psalm 48:14

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 26, 2015

In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)

Through the workings of Christ, we are being built for the habitation of God's Spirit. What an honour to be so used by the glorious King of all creation!

Psalm 15

Psa 15:1  A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Psa 15:2  He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
Psa 15:3  He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
Psa 15:4  In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
Psa 15:5  He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions June 25th

Morning, June 25

“Get thee up into the high mountain.”

Isaiah 40:9

Charles Spurgeon

Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains. When you are at the base you see but little: the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles round, and you are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the scene enlarges; till at last, when you are on the summit, and look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all England lying before you. Yonder is a forest in some distant county, perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or the masts of the ships in a busy port. All these things please and delight you, and you say, “I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation.” Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ we see but little of him. The higher we climb the more we discover of his beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, “I know whom I have believed,” for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of him to whom he had committed his soul. Get thee up, dear friend, into the high mountain.

My Utmost for His Highest

June 25th

Receiving one’s self in the fires of sorrow

What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. John 12:27–29 (R.V.)

Oswald Chambers

My attitude as a saint to sorrow and difficulty is not to ask that they may be prevented, but to ask that I may preserve the self God created me to be through every fire of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself in the fire of sorrow, He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to receive ourselves in its fires. If we try and evade sorrow, refuse to lay our account with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life; it is no use saying sorrow ought not to be. Sin and sorrow and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow burns up a great amount of shallowness, but it does not always make a man better. Suffering either gives me my self or it destroys my self. You cannot receive your self in success, you lose your head; you cannot receive your self in monotony, you grouse. The way to find your self is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be so is another matter, but that it is so is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You always know the man who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, you are certain you can go to him in trouble and find that he has ample leisure for you. If a man has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, he has no time for you. If you receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.

Evening, June 25

“The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.”

Genesis 8:9

Charles Spurgeon

Reader, can you find rest apart from the ark, Christ Jesus? Then be assured that your religion is vain. Are you satisfied with anything short of a conscious knowledge of your union and interest in Christ? Then woe unto you. If you profess to be a Christian, yet find full satisfaction in worldly pleasures and pursuits, your profession is false. If your soul can stretch herself at rest, and find the bed long enough, and the coverlet broad enough to cover her in the chambers of sin, then you are a hypocrite, and far enough from any right thoughts of Christ or perception of his preciousness. But if, on the other hand, you feel that if you could indulge in sin without punishment, yet it would be a punishment of itself; and that if you could have the whole world, and abide in it for ever, it would be quite enough misery not to be parted from it; for your God—your God—is what your soul craves after; then be of good courage, thou art a child of God. With all thy sins and imperfections, take this to thy comfort: if thy soul has no rest in sin, thou are not as the sinner is! If thou art still crying after and craving after something better, Christ has not forgotten thee, for thou hast not quite forgotten him. The believer cannot do without his Lord; words are inadequate to express his thoughts of him. We cannot live on the sands of the wilderness, we want the manna which drops from on high; our skin bottles of creature confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture, but we drink of the rock which follows us, and that rock is Christ. When you feed on him your soul can sing, “He hath satisfied my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s,” but if you have him not, your bursting wine vat and well-filled barn can give you no sort of satisfaction: rather lament over them in the words of wisdom, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!” 

An unseen principle of madness permeates his entire being!

  ~ ~ ~ ~

(Frank Hall)

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time!" Genesis 6:5

"Her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes!" Revelation 18:5

"Fools mock at sin!"Proverbs 14:9

"Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them!" Romans 1:32

Man by nature is insane! He suffers from a deep rooted psychosis called sin! An unseen principle of madness permeates his entire being! Fallen man is a stark raving lunatic--whose depravity, rebellion, and malice against God literally knows no limit.

Thoroughly degraded, man is a weak, tiny, insignificant, little dung-beetle--yet, in his senseless audacity and brazen insolence he daily tempts God to destroy him by stubbornly refusing to obey Him.

If it is madness for maggots on a dunghill to oppose the all-powerful boot of man--then we worms of the earth dare not oppose the Most High God, whose invisible boot of omnipotent sovereignty could squash our souls into Hell with unthinkable ease! Such unwarranted impudence is not only futile, but completely and utterly insane!

"You have sinned against the Lord. Be sure your sin will find you out!" Numbers 32:23

"I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless!"Isaiah 13:11

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 25, 2015

He giveth to the beast his food, [and] to the young ravens which cry. (Psalm 147:9)

Our Prayer: O Lord, we praise you that we can rely on Your providence which feeds not only us, but supplies bountifully the wild animals in their mountain homes. We shall ever answer You with grateful praise for Your goodness!

Psalm 14

Psa 14:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psa 14:2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Psa 14:3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Psa 14:4  Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
Psa 14:5  There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
Psa 14:6  Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.
Psa 14:7  Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions June 24th

Morning, June 24

“A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee,
and the paps which thou hast sucked.
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”
Luke 11:27, 28

Charles Spurgeon

It is fondly imagined by some that it must have involved very special privileges to have been the mother of our Lord, because they supposed that she had the benefit of looking into his very heart in a way in which we cannot hope to do. There may be an appearance of plausibility in the supposition, but not much. We do not know that Mary knew more than others; what she did know she did well to lay up in her heart; but she does not appear from anything we read in the Evangelists to have been a better-instructed believer than any other of Christ’s disciples. All that she knew we also may discover. Do you wonder that we should say so? Here is a text to prove it: “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.” Remember the Master’s words—“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.” So blessedly does this Divine Revealer of secrets tell us his heart, that he keepeth back nothing which is profitable to us; his own assurance is, “If it were not so, I would have told you.” Doth he not this day manifest himself unto us as he doth not unto the world? It is even so; and therefore we will not ignorantly cry out, “Blessed is the womb that bare thee,” but we will intelligently bless God that, having heard the Word and kept it, we have first of all as true a communion with the Saviour as the Virgin had, and in the second place as true an acquaintance with the secrets of his heart as she can be supposed to have obtained. Happy soul to be thus privileged!

My Utmost for His Highest

June 24th

Reconciling one’s self to the fact of sin

This is your hour, and the power of darkness. Luke 22:53

Oswald Chambers

It is not being reconciled to the fact of sin that produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the nobility of human nature, but there is something in human nature which will laugh in the face of every ideal you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is vice and self-seeking, something downright spiteful and wrong in human beings, instead of reconciling yourself to it when it strikes your life, you will compromise with it and say it is of no use to battle against it. Have you made allowance for this hour and the power of darkness, or do you take a recognition of yourself that misses out sin? In your bodily relationships and friendships do you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin? If not, you will be caught round the next corner and you will compromise with it. If you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger at once—‘Yes, I see what that would mean.’ The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship; it establishes a mutual regard for the fact that the basis of life is tragic. Always beware of an estimate of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.

Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical, never suspicious, because He trusted absolutely in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman, not the innocent, is the safeguarded man or woman. You are never safe with an innocent man or woman. Men and women have no business to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child; it is a blameworthy thing for a man or woman not to be reconciled to the fact of sin.

Evening, June 24

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said … Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.”
Daniel 3:16, 18

Charles Spurgeon

The narrative of the manly courage and marvellous deliverance of the three holy children, or rather champions, is well calculated to excite in the minds of believers firmness and steadfastness in upholding the truth in the teeth of tyranny and in the very jaws of death. Let young Christians especially learn from their example, both in matters of faith in religion, and matters of uprightness in business, never to sacrifice their consciences. Lose all rather than lose your integrity, and when all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. Be not guided by the will-o’-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority. Follow the right at all hazards. When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honour to trust him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle. See whether he will be your debtor! See if he doth not even in this life prove his word that “Godliness, with contentment, is great gain,” and that they who “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, shall have all these things added unto them.” Should it happen that, in the providence of God, you are a loser by conscience, you shall find that if the Lord pays you not back in the silver of earthly prosperity, he will discharge his promise in the gold of spiritual joy. Remember that a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of that which he possesseth. To wear a guileless spirit, to have a heart void of offence, to have the favour and smile of God, is greater riches than the mines of Ophir could yield, or the traffic of Tyre could win. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and inward contention therewith.” An ounce of heart’s-ease is worth a ton of gold.

The Christian life

   ~ ~ ~ ~

(Arthur Pink)

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

The Christian life is a life that consists of following Jesus.

The first step toward a daily following of Christ, is the denying of self.

Many suppose they are followers of Christ, and yet ignore the path which He traveled. They imagine that may decline the unpleasant tasks of denying self and cross bearing--and yet enter Heaven when they die. What a delusion!

The one who disregards God's commandments is not walking as Christ walked; instead, he is walking as the world walks.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand!" John 10:27-28

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Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
June 24, 2015

And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is] the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:9)

After the Lord has finally swallowed up the power of death, we, His people, shall rejoice with Him evermore! Be glad in your salvation, O people of God, for as the Lord will cast off death forever, so shall He also grant life to His servants!

Psalm 13

Psa 13:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Psa 13:2  How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Psa 13:3  Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Psa 13:4  Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
Psa 13:5  But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psa 13:6  I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Spurgeon & Chambers Devotions June 23rd

Morning, June 23

“Ephraim is a cake not turned.”

Hosea 7:8

Charles Spurgeon

A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.

A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the other.

If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire of thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of thy grace, I must be consumed for ever amid everlasting burnings.

My Utmost for His Highest

June 23rd

Acquaintance with grief

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:3

Oswald Chambers

We are not acquainted with grief in the way in which Our Lord was acquainted with it; we endure it, we get through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of life we do not reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin. We take a rational view of life and say that a man by controlling his instincts, and by educating himself, can produce a life which will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we go on, we find the presence of something which we have not taken into consideration, viz., sin, and it upsets all our calculations. Sin has made the basis of things wild and not rational. We have to recognize that sin is a fact, not a defect; sin is red-handed mutiny against God. Either God or sin must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue. If sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is no possible ultimate but that. The climax of sin is that it crucified Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will be true in your history and in mine. In our mental outlook we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin as the only explanation as to why Jesus Christ came, and the explanation of the grief and sorrow in life.

Evening, June 23

“Waiting for the adoption.”

Romans 8:23

Charles Spurgeon

Even in this world saints are God’s children, but men cannot discover them to be so, except by certain moral characteristics. The adoption is not manifested, the children are not yet openly declared. Among the Romans a man might adopt a child, and keep it private for a long time: but there was a second adoption in public; when the child was brought before the constituted authorities its former garments were taken off, and the father who took it to be his child gave it raiment suitable to its new condition of life. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” We are not yet arrayed in the apparel which befits the royal family of heaven; we are wearing in this flesh and blood just what we wore as the sons of Adam; but we know that “when he shall appear” who is the “first-born among many brethren,” we shall be like him, we shall see him as he is. Cannot you imagine that a child taken from the lowest ranks of society, and adopted by a Roman senator, would say to himself, “I long for the day when I shall be publicly adopted. Then I shall leave off these plebeian garments, and be robed as becomes my senatorial rank”? Happy in what he has received, for that very reason he groans to get the fulness of what is promised him. So it is with us today. We are waiting till we shall put on our proper garments, and shall be manifested as the children of God. We are young nobles, and have not yet worn our coronets. We are young brides, and the marriage day is not yet come, and by the love our Spouse bears us, we are led to long and sigh for the bridal morning. Our very happiness makes us groan after more; our joy, like a swollen spring, longs to well up like an Iceland geyser, leaping to the skies, and it heaves and groans within our spirit for want of space and room by which to manifest itself to men.