Monthly Archives: December 2012

Uncategorized

Getting to Know Christ Intimately – Charles Stanley

Leave a comment

 

Philippians 3:12-21

No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, it’s never too late to begin pursuing a deeper relationship with Him. Whether you’re already passionate about Jesus or know Him only on a surface level, everyone is welcome to join Paul and “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). To get started, follow these six steps:

Study Scripture. No one can know God apart from His Word since He speaks to us through it, revealing who He is and what He does.

Be willing to spend time alone with the Lord in prayer, meditation, and worship. One of the biggest reasons Christians don’t have a close relationship with Jesus is that they’re unwilling to invest the time needed to get to know Him intimately.

Trust the Lord. The depth of any relationship depends on the level of trust.

Obey Him. As we take each step of obedience, God reveals more of Himself.

Observe how Christ works in your life. By paying attention to how the Lord operates, you’ll become familiar with His ways and goals.

Make Jesus your top priority. Be willing to lay aside anything that competes with your loyalty and devotion to Him.

Knowing Christ intimately is an attainable goal. The key is persistence, so forget past failures and press on. Find an example to follow. My grandfather’s relationship with Jesus was the inspiration for my journey of intimacy with Christ. I knew if he had that kind of relationship with Jesus, so could I.

Uncategorized

Into the World as We Know It – Ravi Zacharias

Leave a comment

 

Garrison Keillor’s description of Aunt Marie is one I have not been able to shake this season. Repeatedly, she has come to mind in discordant moments of Christmas preparation, somewhere between errands at the mall and lyrics that put a stop to them. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining,/ Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.” No description of the Incarnation more readily makes the common stressors of Christmas seem less important. And yet, Aunt Marie, with her “fat little legs” and “her heavy, fur-collared coat,” has made a serious attempt to wrestle me back down to a sad, human, earthly reality. Keillor writes:

“She knew that death was only a door to the kingdom where Jesus would welcome her, there would be no crying there, no suffering, but meanwhile she was fat, her heart hurt, and she lived alone with her ill-tempered little dogs, tottering around her dark little house full of Chinese figurines and old Sunday Tribunes. She complained about nobody loving her or wanting her or inviting her to their house for dinner anymore. She sat eating pork roast, mashed potato, creamed asparagus, one Sunday at our house when she said it. We were talking about a trip to the North Shore and suddenly she broke into tears and cried, ‘You don’t care about me. You say you do but you don’t. If I died tomorrow, I don’t know as you’d even go to my funeral.’ I was six. I said, cheerfully, ‘I’d come to your funeral,’ looking at my fat aunt, her blue dress, her string of pearls, her red rouge, the powder on her nose, her mouth full of pork roast, her eyes full of tears.”(1)

Christmas has reminded us what many of us already know: that the world is waiting, groaning for more, longing for redemption, for peace on earth and goodwill to humanity, for release from darkness and sin and loneliness and disillusionment, for God to come near to the world as we know it. Like Aunt Marie, this waiting is sometimes fraught with discomfort; we wait, and we sense a lonely, earthly reality. But Advent forces the experience of waiting into a different light. Our waiting need not be dehumanizing, dispiriting, as waiting often feels.

The New Testament describes it quite differently—not as a difficult means to a better end, but as part of the promise itself. Eugene Peterson writes, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”(2) Waiting itself is, of course, a reminder that we are earthbound.

But so is Christ.

The Christian’s celebration of Christmas is the assurance that we wait with good reason. “The word became flesh,” wrote John, “and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God did not merely come near, he became flesh that could touch weaknesses, experience loneliness, and encounter the lowest moments of being human. He came to be with us, to move through us, to work within us. He came as small and vulnerable as humans come, getting close enough to bear the scars of our outrage and near enough to prove he would stay regardless. He came far nearer than Aunt Marie—or most of us—are yet able to recognize. “That is what incarnation means,” writes Frederick Buechner. “It is untheological. It is unsophisticated. It is undignified. But according to Christianity, it is the way things are. All religions and philosophies that deny the reality or the significance of the material, the fleshly, the earthbound, are themselves denied.”(3)

God became one of us, not to erase every shadow or to undo the difficulties of humanity, but to be with us in the midst of it, to transform our spectrum of darkness by bearing a truer depth of light, and to enlarge us with the joy of expectancy until the fullness of time when every hope has come to pass.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home (New York: Viking, 1987), xxi-xxii.

(2) Eugene Peterson, The Message, Romans 8:24-25.

(3) Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), 169.

Uncategorized

Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Leave a comment

 

Morning   “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

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.”

 

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

8:20

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 forever 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.

Uncategorized

Our Sympathetic High Priest – John MacArthur

Leave a comment

 

“Assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:16-18).

In his letters to Timothy, Paul counseled and encouraged his young associate about many things–his health, his critics, his moral and spiritual warfare. His counsel is well summed up in these words: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David” (2 Tim. 2:8).

Like Timothy, we need to be reminded of Christ’s humanity, especially when life becomes particularly tough. Then we can pray, “Lord, You know what You endured while You were here. I’m going through it now.” We can be sure He knows and will encourage us.

Jesus came not only to save us but also to sympathize with us. He experienced what we experience so He could be a “merciful and faithful high priest.” After all, “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

Jesus felt everything we will ever feel–and more. Most of us will never know the full degree of any given temptation because we usually succumb long before we reach it. But since Jesus never sinned, He took the full measure of every temptation.

Ours is not a cosmic God, powerful and holy, but indifferent. He knows when we hurt, where we are weak, and how we are tempted. Jesus is not just our Savior, but our loving Lord who sympathizes with us. Rejoice in the greatness of His love for us.

Suggestion for Prayer:  Ask God to remind you of your need of Him at all times, not just when times are tough.

For Future Study:  Memorize 1 Corinthians 10:13 for quick recall whenever you are faced with any trial.

Uncategorized

Build a Bridge – Greg Laurie

Leave a comment

 

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.—Acts 26:30–31

When Philip shared the gospel with the Ethiopian dignitary, he demonstrated something that is often lacking in evangelism, and that is tact. Many Christians just fire away with everything they have. They don’t engage the people they speak with. They don’t establish a dialogue. They don’t build a bridge. They just present all their arguments and all of their statements, and they feel so impressed with themselves. Meanwhile, people are looking forward to their shutting up and going away.

Later, the Christian thinks, Boy, I really blew them out of the water when they said this and that. Wasn’t that great? No, it wasn’t great. In reality, it was quite stupid, because our job is not to win the argument; it’s to win the soul.

If we want to effectively share the gospel with people, then we need to engage them. What did the master evangelist Jesus do as He talked with the woman at the well in Samaria? He engaged her in conversation. It was give-and-take. He spoke . . . He listened. She shared her heart with Him . . . He revealed truth to her.

When we share the gospel with people, it is a dialogue—not a monologue. It is not just talking; it is also listening. It is offering the appropriate passages from Scripture and statements from a heart filled with love so that person can come to believe in Jesus Christ.

No one ever will be argued into the kingdom of God. They are going to believe because the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin. Our job is to simply bring them the essential gospel message.

When the apostle Paul addressed the Greeks on Mars Hill, he took stock of the situation and presented his message accordingly. He used tact—and so should we.

Uncategorized

Loving Your Child – Charles Stanley

Leave a comment

 

As parents, we want our children to love us, spend time with us, talk with us, and stay close to us for as long as we live. More importantly, we would like them to want to do those things. But if we don’t love them unconditionally now, it’s unlikely they will remain nearby in the future.

“But aren’t I responsible to help them develop to their fullest potential?” you might ask. “Are there not times when I need to push a little?”

Absolutely! In fact, motivating your children to excellence and improvement is part of expressing unconditional love and acceptance to them. To allow kids simply to get by in life is a form of covert rejection.

If you want to motivate your children without expressing an attitude of conditional acceptance, two things must be true:

First, all your prodding and exhortation must be preceded by demonstrations of unconditional love for them. There must be memorials, so to speak, to their worthiness in your eyes. By “memorials,” I mean prior events or conversations that have clearly expressed your love.

Memorials are beneficial because they give your children something to recall for reassurance when you pressure them to perform. Sometimes your expectations will be too high, and they will fail. Without reminders of your unconditional acceptance, children might fear your disappointment and rejection.

Memorials can also take the form of a gift or even the bestowal of certain privileges. In presenting the gift, stress several times that it is not connected with any particular occasion or action on their part; you are giving simply because you love them.

• Second, to properly motivate your child, you must measure him by his own ability, not somebody else’s. Comparing one child’s performance to that of another eventually destroys self-esteem, expressions of individuality, and creativity.

The real key here is to view each of your children as a unique individual. Every young person is gifted in some particular way. Your goal as a parent is to recognize that area of strength and emphasize it as your child develops, for within these strengths is his or her greatest potential for excellence. By cultivating these strengths, you will also do great things for your children’s self-esteem.

When I was growing up, I didn’t do so well in high school. Everything turned out okay, but I didn’t have a good start. As a result, I never told my kids that I expected them to make As or Bs while they were in school. I didn’t tell them they had to make the baseball team or be the most popular. Instead, my question to them was, “Did you do your best?”

One good way to find out whether or not your children feel unconditional acceptance is simply to ask them, “What do you think it would take for you to make Mom and Dad as proud of you as we could possibly be?”

Evaluate the answer carefully. Is it task-oriented? Do they feel they must do all their chores every day or be straight-A students? Do they feel obligated to make a team or squad, or perform some other task to win your approval?

Perhaps the answer is more character-related. Do your children believe that doing their best at every task they undertake is what would please you? Do they know you would be proud of them for obeying God, regardless of the cost?

Their reply will give you insight into what you’ve actually communicated, regardless of what you have said. The value system you establish will serve as a basis upon which they accept themselves and others.

Simply telling your children that you accept them unconditionally is not enough. The apostle John wrote, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18 NKJV). Unconditional love and acceptance are communicated more clearly by what we do and how we do it than simply by what we say.

Our children must have a backlog of memories to sustain their belief that we truly love them, no matter what. Such love tells our sons and daughters that we accept them for who they are—despite what they do. What a sense of security and acceptance this gives them!

Do you want to encourage your kids to succeed? You don’t need to push expectations on them. If we direct their focus to the Lord, then they will want to be obedient and do their best for Him.

Never take for granted the impact that you have on their lives. Remember, the way you act toward your kids today greatly influences the way they will respond to you tomorrow.

Uncategorized

Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Leave a comment

 

Morning   “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” / Ecclesiastes 7:8

Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and

rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see the

end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until his enemies be made

his footstool. “As he is, so are we also in this world.” You must bear the

cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or

you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian.

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” See that creeping

worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark

that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the

flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That

caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death;

but when Christ shall appear you shall be like him, for you shall see him as

he is. Be content to be like him, a worm and no man, that like him you may be

satisfied when you wake up in his likeness. That rough-looking diamond is put

upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much–much

that seemed costly to itself. The king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the

monarch’s head with trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that

coronet, and it beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely

vexed by the lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond,

for you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting process.

Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown

shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray

of glory shall stream from you. “They shall be mine,” saith the Lord, “in the

day when I make up my jewels.” “Better is the end of a thing than the

beginning thereof.”

 

Evening  “Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?” / 2 Samuel

2:26

If, O my reader! thou art merely a professor, and not a possessor of the faith

that is in Christ Jesus, the following lines are a true ketch of thine end.

You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go because others

go, not because your heart is right with God. This is your beginning. I will

suppose that for the next twenty or thirty years you will be spared to go on

as you do now, professing religion by an outward attendance upon the means of

grace, but having no heart in the matter. Tread softly, for I must show you

the deathbed of such a one as yourself. Let us gaze upon him gently. A clammy

sweat is on his brow, and he wakes up crying, “O God, it is hard to die. Did

you send for my minister?” “Yes, he is coming.” The minister comes. “Sir, I

fear that I am dying!” “Have you any hope?” “I cannot say that I have. I fear

to stand before my God; oh! pray for me.” The prayer is offered for him with

sincere earnestness, and the way of salvation is for the ten-thousandth time

put before him, but before he has grasped the rope, I see him sink. I may put

my finger upon those cold eyelids, for they will never see anything here

again. But where is the man, and where are the man’s true eyes? It is written,

“In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.” Ah! why did he not lift up

his eyes before? Because he was so accustomed to hear the gospel that his soul

slept under it. Alas! if you should lift up your eyes there, how bitter will

be your wailings. Let the Saviour’s own words reveal the woe: “Father Abraham,

send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my

tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” There is a frightful meaning in

those words. May you never have to spell it out by the red light of Jehovah’s

wrath!

Uncategorized

Satan’s Conqueror – John MacArthur

Leave a comment

 

“Since . . . the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14-15).

To be free to live with God and share in all His blessings, someone had to shatter Satan’s death grip on us. Sin is what gives Satan his powerful hold on us, but the power itself is death.

Satan knew that God required death for us because of sin. He knew that all died in Adam–that death became a certain fact of life. And he knew that men, if they remained as they were, would die and go out of God’s presence into hell forever. So he wants to hang onto men until they die because once they are dead, the opportunity for salvation is gone forever.

To wrest the power of death from Satan’s hand, God sent Christ into the world. If you have a greater weapon than your enemy, then his weapon is useless. You can’t fight a machine gun with a bow and arrow. Satan’s weapon is death, but eternal life is God’s weapon, and with it Jesus destroyed death.

How was He able to do it? He rose again, proving He had conquered death. That’s why He said, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). His resurrection provides the believer with eternal life.

Nothing terrifies people more than the fear of death. But when we receive Christ, death in reality holds no more fear for us since it simply releases us into the presence of our Lord. We can say with Paul, “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Rejoice that you have placed your hand into the hand of the conqueror of death, who will lead you through death and out the other side.

Suggestion for Prayer: Ask God to give you a greater realization that He has conquered death to help you live life more fully to His glory.

For Further Study: Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. How are we to live our lives based on what we know about death?

Uncategorized

A Passion to Know Christ – Charles Stanley

Leave a comment

 

Philippians 3:3-11

Most believers know the essential facts about their Savior’s life, but few know Him well relationally. They’re so busy with activities and pursuits that they rarely think of Jesus until a desperate situation arises.

Yet those who know the Lord intimately have a continually deepening relationship with Him. He’s their top priority, and every possession, accomplishment, or pursuit is worthless compared to knowing Him. Consider the results of making Christ the passion of your life (Phil. 3:8-10):

Increasing hunger: “that I may gain Christ.” Even though Paul had an amazing relationship with Jesus, his passion was so great that he wanted to know Him more.

Changed life: “the righteousness which comes from God.” The more we know Christ, the more we’ll mature spiritually and display His righteousness.

Increased capability: “the power of His resurrection.” The Spirit’s power flows through those intimately related to Jesus.

New perspective: “the fellowship of His sufferings.” When we understand Christ, we recognize the benefits He works in us through our suffering.

Victorious living: “being conformed to His death.” Christians who know Jesus intimately count themselves dead to the sins that once dominated their lives.

Is your life characterized by a deep, abiding passion for Christ, or is your relationship with Him shallow and mechanical? Believers must not let the pleasures, opportunities, and responsibilities of this world rob them of the treasure of knowing Jesus. It’s time to count it all as loss and pursue Christ.

Uncategorized

Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Leave a comment

 

Morning “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” / 1 Samuel 7:12

The word “hitherto” seems like a hand pointing in the direction of the past.

Twenty years or seventy, and yet, “hitherto the Lord hath helped!” Through

poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health, at home, abroad, on

the land, on the sea, in honour, in dishonour, in perplexity, in joy, in

trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation, “hitherto hath the Lord helped

us!” We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze

from end to end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its

branching pillars and its arches of leaves; even so look down the long aisles

of your years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong pillars

of lovingkindness and faithfulness which bear up your joys. Are there no birds

in yonder branches singing? Surely there must be many, and they all sing of

mercy received “hitherto.”

But the word also points forward. For when a man gets up to a certain mark and

writes “hitherto,” he is not yet at the end, there is still a distance to be

traversed. More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more

prayers, more answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories;

and then come sickness, old age, disease, death. Is it over now? No! there is

more yet-awakening in Jesus’ likeness, thrones, harps, songs, psalms, white

raiment, the face of Jesus, the society of saints, the glory of God, the

fulness of eternity, the infinity of bliss. O be of good courage, believer,

and with grateful confidence raise thy “Ebenezer,” for–

He who hath helped thee hitherto

Will help thee all thy journey through.

When read in heaven’s light how glorious and marvellous a prospect will thy

“hitherto” unfold to thy grateful eye!

 

Evening  “What think ye of Christ?” / Matthew 22:42

The great test of your soul’s health is, What think you of Christ? Is he to

you “fairer than the children of men”–“the chief among ten thousand”–the

“altogether lovely”? Wherever Christ is thus esteemed, all the faculties of

the spiritual man exercise themselves with energy. I will judge of your piety

by this barometer: does Christ stand high or low with you? If you have thought

little of Christ, if you have been content to live without his presence, if

you have cared little for his honour, if you have been neglectful of his laws,

then I know that your soul is sick–God grant that it may not be sick unto

death! But if the first thought of your spirit has been, how can I honour

Jesus? If the daily desire of your soul has been, “O that I knew where I might

find him!” I tell you that you may have a thousand infirmities, and even

scarcely know whether you are a child of God at all, and yet I am persuaded,

beyond a doubt, that you are safe, since Jesus is great in your esteem. I care

not for thy rags, what thinkest thou of his royal apparel? I care not for thy

wounds, though they bleed in torrents, what thinkest thou of his wounds? are

they like glittering rubies in thine esteem? I think none the less of thee,

though thou liest like Lazarus on the dunghill, and the dogs do lick thee–I

judge thee not by thy poverty: what thinkest thou of the King in his beauty?

Has he a glorious high throne in thy heart? Wouldest thou set him higher if

thou couldest? Wouldest thou be willing to die if thou couldest but add

another trumpet to the strain which proclaims his praise? Ah! then it is well

with thee. Whatever thou mayest think of thyself, if Christ be great to thee,

thou shalt be with him ere long.

“Though all the world my choice deride,

Yet Jesus shall my portion be;

For I am pleased with none beside,

The fairest of the fair is he”

Uncategorized

He Who Sanctifies – John MacArthur

Leave a comment

 

“Both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, ‘I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.’ And again, ‘I will put My trust in Him.’ And again, ‘Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me'” (Heb. 2:11-13).

From our own perspective and experience, it is difficult to think of ourselves as holy. Sin simply is too much a part of us in this fallen world. In thought and practice we are far from holy, but in Christ we are perfectly holy.

We may not always act holy, but because of our faith in Christ we are perfectly holy in God’s sight. Just as a child may not always act like his father, he is nonetheless still his son. We are holy in the sense that before God, the righteousness of Christ has been applied and imputed on our behalf through faith. We were made holy through His sacrifice and have become “those who are sanctified.”

“By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). We are as pure as God is pure, righteous as Christ is righteous, and therefore entitled to be called His brothers because we now share in His righteousness.

The Sanctifier and sanctified now have “one Father,” and the Sanctifier “is not ashamed” to call the sanctified His brothers. What an overwhelming truth!

The practical experience of a Christian’s life in this world includes sin, but the positional reality of his or her new nature is holiness. “In Him [we] have been made complete” (Col. 2:10). Yet practically we have a long way to go. So the overriding purpose of our lives is to become in practice what we are in position. Now that we are Christ’s brothers and God’s children, let that be all the motivation we need to live like it.

Suggestion for Prayer: Thank the Lord for His sanctifying work on the cross, which enables you to be holy.

For Further Study:  Read Romans 1:16. Based on what God has done for you through Christ, can you wholeheartedly echo Paul’s statement?

Uncategorized

Memory Full! – Greg Laurie

Leave a comment

 

My computer screen flashes a little warning sign on those occasions when I try to load too much information onto my hard drive. It tells me my memory is full—it has no more room for any more information.

In a similar way, if we would fill our hearts and minds with God’s Word, then when the devil comes with his perverse thoughts and ungodly schemes, he will see a sign that notifies him that our memory is full. It is so important for us to fill our minds and hearts with the Word of God!

Certainly it is good to carry a Bible in your briefcase, pocket, or purse; but the best place to carry the Bible is in your heart. It is good to go through the Word of God, but it is better for the Word of God to go through you. It is great to mark your Bible, but it is best if your Bible marks you. It must affect the way you live.

The Bible tells us to store up its words in our hearts, teach them to our children, and write them down (Deuteronomy 11:18-20). Memorizing a verse may not feel like a supernatural experience, but it is an important discipline. That is why the Lord told Joshua to meditate on His Word “day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

When you store the Word of God in your memory, the next time you face a difficult situation, suddenly that verse will come to you with freshness from the very throne of God. It will speak to your situation and strengthen your heart.

So get God’s Word into your heart and mind! And put it into practice.

Uncategorized

In the School of Faith – Charles Stanley

Leave a comment

 

Matthew 16:6-12

Jesus spent much time developing His disciples’ faith because He knew it would be essential for the tasks ahead of them. For over three years, they attended a school of faith with Jesus as their instructor and the Scriptures as the textbook. Sometimes Christ used verbal instruction, but many of the lessons were taught through demonstrations. He healed the sick, cast out demons, fed thousands, and calmed the sea. Their training even included tests that revealed if they truly believed Jesus was the Messiah.

At times the disciples’ understanding was slow or faltering, but Christ never gave up on them. He reproved them when they exhibited a lack of trust (Mark 4:40) but also commended signs of progress (Matt. 16:15-17). His objective was to firmly establish their faith so He could accomplish His work in and through them. After His ascension, He commanded His men to spread the gospel of salvation to the remotest parts of the earth. Without faith, they would have failed.

The Lord has the same goal for us—to increase our faith so we can do the work He’s planned for us. If our faith is great, He will entrust us with challenges and achieve amazing things through us. But small faith limits God’s activity in a believer’s life. He uses us only to the degree that we trust Him.

Faith building is essential in a believer’s life, and God has two primary means of doing this. Scripture tells us what to believe about Him, and tests place us in difficult situations that stretch us to believe and rely on God instead of our own understanding. Each time we believe Him, our faith grows.

Uncategorized

Life, Death, and Incarnation – Ravi Zacharias

Leave a comment

 

The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is one of the world’s largest maximum-security prisons, an eighteen-thousand acre habitat to people who have committed horrible crimes. It houses roughly five thousand inmates, more than half of which are serving life sentences. Death looms large at Angola; ninety-four percent of inmates who enter are expected to die while incarcerated. The fear of dying alone in prison, coupled with the reality that for many inmates their first encounter with death was committing murder, makes death a weighted subject, often locked up in anger, guilt, and dread.

For a few inmates, however, the Angola Hospice volunteer program has drastically changed this. In 1998, equipped with a variety of staff trustees and inmate volunteers, the LSP hospice opened its doors to its first terminally ill inmate. Today it is recognized as one of the best programs of its kind. Giving inmate volunteers a role in the creation of the hospice and the primary care during the dying process, inmates find themselves in the position to tangibly affect the lives of others for good. Reckoning with death as a fate that awaits all of humanity as they care for dying friends and strangers, prisoners gradually let go of hardened demeanors. One inmate notes, “I’ve seen guys that used to run around Angola, and want to fight and drug up, actually cry and be heartbroken over the patient.”(1) Another describes being present in the lives of the dying and how much this takes from the living. “But it puts a lot in you,” he adds. A third inmate describes how caring for strangers on the brink of death has put an end to his lifelong anger and helped him to confront his guilt with honesty.

It may seem for some an odd story as a means of examining the story of Christmas, but in some ways it is the only story to ever truly introduce the story of Christmas: broken, guilty souls longing for someone to be present. As martyred archbishop Oscar Romero once said, it is only the poor and hungry, those most aware they need someone to come on their behalf, who can celebrate Christmas. For the prisoners at Angola who stare death in the eyes and realize the tender importance of presence, for the child whose mother left and whose father was never there, for the melancholic soul that laments the evils of a fallen world, the Incarnation is the only story that touches every pain, every lost hope, every ounce of our guilt, every joy that ever matters. Where other creeds fail, Christmas, in essence, is about coming poor and weary, guilty and famished to the very scene in history where God reached down and touched the world by stepping into it.

The Incarnation is hard to dismiss out of hand because it so radically comes near our needs. Into the world of lives and deaths, the arrival of Christ as a child turns fears of isolation, weakness, and condemnation on their heads. C.S. Lewis describes the doctrine of the Incarnation as a story that gets under our skin unlike any other creed, religion, or theory. “[The Incarnation] digs beneath the surface, works through the rest of our knowledge by unexpected channels, harmonises best with our deepest apprehensions… and undermines our superficial opinions. It has little to say to the man who is still certain that everything is going to the dogs, or that everything is getting better and better, or that everything is God, or that everything is electricity. Its hour comes when these wholesale creeds have begun to fail us.”(2) Standing over the precipices of the things that matter, nothing matters more than that there is a loving, forgiving, eager God who draws near.

The great hope of the Incarnation is that God comes for us. God is present and Christ is aware, and it changes everything. “[I]f accepted,” writes Lewis, “[the Incarnation] illuminates and orders all other phenomena, explains both our laughter and our logic, our fear of the dead and our knowledge that it is somehow good to die,…[and] covers what multitudes of separate theories will hardly cover for us if this is rejected.”(3) The coming of Christ as an infant in Bethlehem puts flesh on humanity’s worth and puts God in humanity’s weakness. To the captive, there is no other freedom.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Stephen Kiernan, Last Rights (New York: St Martin’s Press, 2006), 274.

(2) C.S. Lewis, The Complete C.S. Lewis (New York: HarperCollins, 2002), 282.

(3) Ibid.

Uncategorized

Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Leave a comment

 

Morning   “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of

God.” / Galatians 2:20

When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all

said, “Live;” and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely

essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are

incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace

confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than

the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the

branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus.

Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its

firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its

all-glorious Head.

“Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord,

Is not this office thine? and thy fit name,

In the economy of gospel types,

And symbols apposite–the Church’s neck;

Identifying her in will and work

With him ascended?”

Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She

knows his excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her

trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace,

that he never ceases to strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and

all-sufficient support of his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a

living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love,

confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and

bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness

between itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the

one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as near

heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most

sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.

 

Evening   “I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.” / Matthew 10:34

The Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to

make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him

to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his

great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him

more graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what

your Master said? “I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and

the daughter against her mother; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own

household.” Christ is the great Peacemaker; but before peace, he brings war.

Where the light cometh, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must

flee; or, if it abideth, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot

and will not lower its standard, and the lie must be trodden under foot. If

you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your

heels. If you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend

upon it the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the

world is an enemy to God; but if you are true and faithful to the Most High,

men will resent your unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against

their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You

will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall

turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you

must thus be courageous. For the truth’s sake to hazard reputation and

affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of

moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not

your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right manfully in your

Master’s steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief

warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.

Uncategorized

The Author of Our Salvation – John MacArthur

Leave a comment

 

“It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10).

As we look at what Christ has done, we must never forget that He was fulfilling the sovereign plan of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us it was fitting in God’s sight for Christ to bring many sons to glory. That means everything God did through Christ was consistent with His character.

The cross was a masterpiece of God’s wisdom. It displayed His holiness in His hatred of sin. It was consistent with His power: Christ endured in a few hours what it would take an eternity to expend on sinners. The cross displayed His love for mankind. And Christ’s death on the cross agreed with God’s grace because it was substitutionary.

To bring “many sons to glory,” God had “to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.” The Greek word translated “author” (archegos) means “pioneer” or “leader.” It was commonly used of a pioneer who blazed a trail for others to follow. The archegos never stood at the rear giving orders; he was always out front blazing the trail. As the supreme Archegos, Christ has gone before us–He is our trailblazer.

Life seems most anxious and dreadful when death is near. That’s a trail we cannot travel by ourselves. But the Author of our salvation says, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). Only the perfect Pioneer could lead us out of the domain of death into the presence of the Father. All you have to do is put your hand in His nail- scarred hand and He will lead you from one side of death to the other. Then you can say with the apostle Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55).

Suggestion for Prayer:  Praise God for all His attributes, specifically for each one displayed in Christ’s death for you.

For Further Study:  Read Hebrews 5:8-9 and 1 Peter 2:19-25. How do those verses expand on Hebrews 2:10?

Uncategorized

Bad for Business? – Greg Laurie

Leave a comment

 

The whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.— Matthew 8:34

You would think that after the miracle of casting out demons from two men who had violently oppressed them, the people in the area would have said, “Jesus, You are the man! We love what you did! Now we can go back to the cemetery and pay our respects to our loved ones and put flowers on their graves. We wouldn’t even go near there before. These guys were scary. Thank you, Lord, for coming to our community.” But that is not what happened. Instead, they wanted Him to go away. Why? It was because Jesus was bad for business.

Jesus had cast the demons out of the men and into a herd of swine that went over a cliff. I don’t know if those who kept the herd were Jewish, because if they were, this was not a kosher thing to be doing. They had been making money off the pigs, and there was no more bringing home the bacon for them. It was the end of that story. So they thought, We don’t like this. This is bad for our economy. Go away.

For some people, Jesus is bad for their business. It is typically the kind of business that preys on human suffering—even contributes to it. And if you have discovered that Jesus is bad for your business, then you need to get another job.

In the region of the Gadarenes, the people realized that Jesus wasn’t good for what they did, and therefore, they wanted Him to go away. Matthew’s Gospel tells us, “The whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region” (Matthew 8:34). So guess what Jesus did? He left.

Jesus won’t force His way into anyone’s life, including yours. Have you invited Him in?

Uncategorized

A Saving Faith – Charles Stanley

Leave a comment

 

Matthew 7:13-29

The greatest tragedy that can befall someone is to think he’s saved, only to discover after death he’s not. We’d all liketo believe the claims of those who say they’re Christians, but Jesus gives a harsh warning because He knows many will be deceived. They’ll sit in churches week after week, professing that Jesus is the Son of God, but will never really enter into a personal relationship with Him.

Intellectual faith isn’t the same as saving faith. It’s not enough to know facts about Jesus or to believe He died and rose again. Even demons believe that (James 2:19). Salvation involves more than knowing: it requires trusting that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin, receiving His forgiveness, turning away from old sinful ways, and entering into a relationship with Him. What matters is not what we say with our mouths, but what we mean in our hearts.

Although you probably won’t understand all that happens at the moment of salvation, when Christ becomes your Savior, He also becomes your Lord. As the Master of your life, He then has a right to govern what you do. His Holy Spirit takes up residence within you when you are saved, and that means you will change. He continually works to remove sinful attitudes and behaviors, replacing them with His spiritual fruit (Gal. 5:22-23).

We recognize a person’s salvation not by his profession but by fruit. If you’re truly saved, your character will become more Christlike over time, and your desire will be to obey Him. This does not mean you’ll never sin or stumble, but the overall direction of your life will be one of obedience.

Uncategorized

Unwanted Gifts – Ravi Zacharias

Leave a comment

 

There’s an amusing commercial airing in Atlanta this Christmas season. Five friends gather around a fireplace to exchange gifts. When one recipient opens her package, she exclaims with a fake beauty contestant smile, “Oh, a kitty book! Now everyone will know I’m still single! Yeah!” Another chimes in enthusiastically about his unwanted gift, “Oh man! This is gonna go straight in the trash!” No one is subtle about their jovial dislike of what they receive, and so the narrator advises, “Give a better gift this year.”

Besides the obvious humor, the advertisement’s appeal highlights our own cognitive dissonance. While we may share similar feelings about certain gifts, few of us would blurt out, “What were you thinking?!” And yet, sometimes we may not hesitate to say such words to God.

I am reminded of the story of Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, which Luke records in the first chapter of his Gospel. Elizabeth is barren and they are both well advanced in years. Unlike Abraham and Sarah—and even Simeon—as far as we know, Zechariah and Elizabeth have not been given any promise of a child. They are living in a period of silence, as some Bible scholars call it: it has been over 400 years since God spoke of a coming Redeemer and his forerunner through the prophet Malachi. Nevertheless, Zechariah and Elizabeth hold onto God; as Luke tells us, “Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly” (Luke 1:6).

Year after year faithful Zechariah serves in the temple, and one day the lots fall to him to perform the evening offering—a once in a lifetime privilege. He is alone at the altar of incense when suddenly the angel Gabriel appears. “When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear,” writes Luke. “But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord’” (Luke 1:11-15a). Gabriel adds that John will go before the Lord to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (verse 17).

The name John is significant because none of Zechariah’s relatives share this name and, as it is still today, it was customary to name a firstborn son after his father.(1)John is a Greek form of the Hebrew phrase Yohanan, meaning “God is gracious.” Hebrew scholar Skip Moen offers this insight about the word gracious:

This single word describes an elaborate picture. It creates an image of two parties; one who has a gift to give and the other who is in desperate need of the gift. However, the imagery does not convey the idea that the giver patronizes the recipient with the needed gift. There is no suggestion of condescension here. Rather, the picture is one of a deep, heartfelt concern on the part of the giver so that the gift is granted not from anything that the recipient may negotiate or earn but out of compelling mercy. When the Old Testament uses this verb of God, it conveys the idea of God’s unmerited but nevertheless unlimited love for His children. God willingly favors us with His love and blessings entirely because He chooses to pour His mercy upon us.(2)

Strangely, Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah that God has answered his prayer is met with distrust: “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Indeed, Zechariah rejects the very gift he has longed for because he is completely focused on wanting tangible proof of this promise. Perhaps this is because he and his wife have lived for decades with disappointment and heartache—barrenness in their culture symbolized shame, scorn, and God’s supposed disapproval. Whatever his reason, he is struck dumb until Elizabeth gives birth and they bring the child to the temple where Zechariah encountered Gabriel. There Zechariah acknowledges God’s gracious gift and “to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.”

The Christmas season and namely, the asking for and receiving of gifts, often taps into our deepest hopes and fears. Maybe you can sympathize with Zechariah’s initial refusal to receive the good that God offers him. You have known disappointment and loss. You may be grateful for untold blessings but still wonder why God doesn’t answer a particular prayer. Or, you may be hesitant or even resistant to hope in a God who is unpredictable.

In such places, the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth—or of Abraham, Hannah, and Joseph—can speak intimately into our lives. And then there are those around us, like quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada, who sees her wheelchair and recent cancer as a gift, for they have “pushed her deeper into [God’s] embrace…convincing her that she’d rather be in her chair knowing Him, than on her feet without Him.”(3) Those are sobering words and a gift few of us would want to receive. But perhaps, as we consider the Christmas story, we might discover gifts shining with the brightness and magnitude of a God who,

has come to his people and redeemed them…

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins,

because of [his] tender mercy…

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace.(4)

Danielle DuRant is director of research and writing at RZIM.

(1) See Luke 1:59-61.

(2) http://skipmoen.com/tag/gracious/

(3) See Joni speaking about her life at http://www.joniandfriends.org/television/id-rather-be-wheelchair-knowing-him/. Regarding her cancer, see Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013).

(4) Luke 1:68, 77-79.

Uncategorized

Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Leave a comment

 

Morning   “Can the rush grow up without mire?” / Job 8:11

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.

 

Evening   “And the Lord shall guide thee continually.” / Isaiah 58:11

“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.”