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Friday 28 March 2014

How could you or I ever make contact with Him when He is so apparently inaccessible?

"The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy ... dwell[s] in the high and holy place," says Isaiah (57:15). How could you or I ever make contact with Him when He is so apparently inaccessible?
Then--wonder of wonders! He tells us where we can find access to Him: "I dwell ... with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." Would you like to meet this High and Holy One? Okay, get acquainted with someone whose spirit is contrite and humble--maybe in your office or workplace, or there might be some such student at your school.
The Lord has His home there with such a person. Don't let yourself be fooled; it might turn out to be the janitor. Ignore or despise him or her and you end up treating Christ like His people did long ago.
And perhaps you are the person who is of a humble spirit and you find yourself being battered in subtle ways in our modern cultural barnyard. The Bible assures us that if there is anywhere someone who does indeed follow in the footsteps of Jesus, that person is bound to suffer some kind of abuse from his or her fellowmen (ponder 2 Tim. 3:12).
What really hurts is when that cultural barnyard turns out to be your church (that can happen!). When it does, we are driven back to Isaiah 57: "I dwell ... with him also ... of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." The idea of the word is to "make alive," almost to resurrect. The word "spirit" has a small s--means the source of your own personality, the real you. You have something that keeps you happy and sweet even when you are abused.
Isaiah makes the point more clear in chapter 66: "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. ... But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word" (vss. 1, 2). It's the "trembling at [His] word" that makes God feel at home to "dwell" with you, not "trembling" in the sense of terror, but to be thrilled with delight in reading His word. Use your new day to get better acquainted with Him!

Thursday 27 March 2014

The way is simple, but the believing (faith) does take time.

When the New Testament speaks of "the flesh," it's the sinful nature we all have--the source of our temptations. It's not the world outside of us that tempts us--it's the world inside of us. If you live like a hermit in the desert, the "flesh" within still tempts.
Paul explains the only way it can be handled: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (Gal. 5:24). Millions want to know how they can do that. It's not some "work" to DO. And to pray, "God, please crucify my flesh!" is not the way, like pushing a computer button. The way is simple, but the believing (faith) does take time.
Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3:14-21, not that we might DO some wonderful work, but that we might SEE something wonderful: "that ye .. may be able to comprehend ... what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love (agape) of Christ," which of course is displayed only at His cross. If an angel had videoed the crucifixion, it might fill the theaters, but that would not help; we "see" it, "comprehend" it, with the eyes of faith. It takes "a thoughtful hour." On your knees, alone with your heavenly Father. With the Bible open before you.
"See" the cross therein. Psalm 22 was put there for this purpose; also Psalm 69. Yes, David wrote them both, but it's Jesus Himself talking from His cross! Read them in several translations, if you can. Read them slowly, no hurried impatience. God inspired both so that you might identify with your Savior, and begin to sense those grand dimensions of a love that no preacher can adequately portray.
"Comprehend" what happened there, "see" it, and Galatians 6:14 will come alive for you: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I [am crucified] unto the world."
How does it work? "I am crucified with Christ ..." (2:20; "self"). "The world" will have no more impact on you now than it had on the repentant thief who also was crucified with Him. And you will share what he had--he was the happiest man who has ever lived, for he heard those words, "You will be with Me in Paradise."
"In Christ," you rule the flesh; you are its boss. Like Him, you "condemn sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3, 4). Take charge; choose. Welcome to joy!

Wednesday 26 March 2014

When we consider our loyalty to Jesus Christ, we become painfully aware how powerful are the temptations to be disloyal to Him.

When we consider our loyalty to Jesus Christ, we become painfully aware how powerful are the temptations to be disloyal to Him. For example, one of His foremost followers, the apostle Peter, disloyally denied Him three times when he was in a group warming themselves around a fire on the chilly early morning. Peter didn't want to appear different; he didn't want the ridicule to extend to him. He thought it too difficult to stand alone for Jesus among worldly peers.
Not only that, but we read that the entire Eleven apostles "forsook Him and fled" when the Temple police arrested Jesus and led Him away to be tried alone. (One of the Twelve, we know, basely betrayed Him. But we're not concerned here with Judas Iscariot--Satan took full control of him and he was lost at last; we are concerned with the Eleven for we want to be among those who, like them, overcome at last.)
Not one of the Eleven who remained came up to Him as He hung on His cross and tried to comfort Him. Not one even gave Him a drink of water. Not one put his hands on His crucified feet and told Him, "Thank You Lord for what You are doing for us!"
One may say, "Oh, He forgave them, it was okay; He didn't really need any comfort from them, for the angels were comforting Him all along. He was the Son of God, and He didn't need anything from His disciples." But He was also the Son of man; and the angels were not permitted to comfort Him in this awful trial. The Eleven were forgiven, yes, but they always regretted their cowardice. We can learn and we can do better.
They did overcome--after Pentecost. The Eleven were all at last faithful unto death.
Now we have come to the end-time crisis. All around us the scenes of Calvary are being re-enacted in principle. Spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of those closing hours of Christ's life; see yourself in Peter; let the Holy Spirit teach you how to be loyal to Christ in your office, your job, your school, your home, yes, even your church. (LET Him teach you; He will if you don't stop Him. LET Him hold you by the hand.)

Monday 24 March 2014

What's wrong with the world?

What's wrong with the world?
The Lord Jesus Christ has His answer: "Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold" (Matt. 24:12). Is love the problem? Or the lack of it? Could we translate that to mean that people are disobeying the holy law of God? Yes, of course that's true. And do they need to be warned?
But is it wiser to say that people are disregarding the holy law of God because they do not truly know what that "loveof God" means? Could it be that instead of needing to be warned, people need to be won?
If we had a meter that could determine the extent of our true obedience (like a thermometer determines how warm we are), it would register the awareness there is in our soul of the love of Christ; and that would directly correlate with the extent of our obedience to the law of God.
The reason? "He who loves another has fulfilled the law. ... If there is any other commandment, [it] is all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:8-10; that is not teaching we should love self; Luther got that right long ago: now you love others as you have always previously, naturally, loved yourself).
Our "love-thermometer" is not to measure our love for Christ; it is to measure our appreciation of His love for us. We are not saved by our love for Jesus. We are saved by His love for us.
We will gain an incalculable blessing if we will get on our knees and spend "a thoughtful hour in contemplation of the life of Christ, especially its closing scenes." Let His love, not yours, wash through your soul. Don't begrudge the time!


Friday 21 March 2014

A poor minister found his clothes nearly threadbare

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (Matthew 6:30)

Clothes are expensive, and poor believers may be led into anxiety as to where their next suit will come from. The soles are thin; how shall we get new shoes? See how our thoughtful Lord has provided against this care. Our heavenly Father clothes the grass of the field with a splendor such as Solomon could not equal: will He not clothe His own children? We are sure He will. There may be many a patch and a darn, but raiment we shall have.

A poor minister found his clothes nearly threadbare, and so far gone that they would hardly hold together; but as a servant of the Lord he expected his Master to find him his livery. It so happened that the writer on a visit to a friend had the loan of the good man's pulpit, and it came into his mind to make a collection for him, and there was his suit. Many other cases we have seen in which those who had served the Lord have found Him considerate of their wardrobe. He who made man so that when he had sinned he needed garments, also in mercy supplied him with them; and those which the Lord gave to our first parents were far better than those they made for themselves.

Thursday 20 March 2014

The Lord will give grace and glory. (Psalm 84:11)

The Lord will give grace and glory. (Psalm 84:11)

Grace is what we need just now, and it is to be had freely. What can be freer than a gift? Today we shall receive sustaining, strengthening, sanctifying, satisfying grace. He has given daily grace until now, and as for the future, that grace is still sufficient. If we have but little grace the fault most lie in ourselves; for the Lord is not straitened, neither is He slow to bestow it in abundance. We may ask for as much as we will and never fear a refusal. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not.

The Lord may not give gold, but He will give grace: He may not give gain, but He will give grace. He will certainly send us trial, but He will give grace in proportion thereto. We may be called to labor and to suffer, but with the call there will come all the grace required;

What an "end" is that in the text--"and glory!" We do not need glory yet, and we are not yet fit for it; but we shall have it in due order. After we have eaten the bread of grace, we shall drink the wine of glory. We must go through the holy, which is grace, to the holiest of all, which is glory. These words and glory are enough to make a man dance for joy. A little while--a little while, and then glory forever!

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Does the great God of heaven, the Creator of the cosmos, care about "time"?

Does the great God of heaven, the Creator of the cosmos, care about "time"? Isaiah 57 says that He is "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy" (vs. 15). Can anyone who "fills" eternity care about us down here who are immersed in the limitations of time? Care about us who get anxious because of delay?
To put the question in a different way, Does He care WHEN the second coming of Christ will take place? Or does Jesus have His own way of looking at "time" so that when He tells us "Behold, I come quickly," He actually means something wholly outside our perimeters of consciousness? As one writer to a respected church paper said, could it mean another 400 years before He comes? Has God used the words "quickly" and "soon" with a meaning totally different from what we humans can understand? If a father tells a little child, "I am coming home soon," when he means 50 years, is that not being deceptive?
The Son of God stepped down low, relinquishing His prerogatives of divinity (but not His divinity!) and became one of us, "Emmanuel, … God with us." So, "in Christ," He has subjected Himself to the limitations of time, for our sake.
He gave us the holy Sabbath, which is "time" set apart for sanctification. He "blessed and sanctified it." Yes, He that "inhabiteth eternity" is immersed in time!
He has given us certain specific time prophecies in Daniel and the Revelation that make eminent good sense.
Christ Himself is more desirous, I might say anxious, for "the marriage of the Lamb" to come, than we are. Christ in His glorified state is still human as well as divine, "with [us] always." He is an eager Bridegroom longing for the marriage day to come! In divine/human impatience, He finds it hard to "wait."

Monday 17 March 2014

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9)

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9)

It is well when a man can with advantage be so minutely copied as Paul might have been. Oh, for grace to imitate him this day and every day!

Should we, through divine grace, carry into practice the Pauline teaching, we may claim the promise which is now open before us; and what a promise it is! God, who loves peace, makes peace, and breathes peace, will be with us. "Peace be with you" is a sweet benediction; but for the God of peace to be with us is far more. Thus we have the fountain as well as the streams, the sun as well as his beams. If the God of peace be with us, we shall enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding, even though outward circumstances should threaten to disturb. If men quarrel, we shall be sure to be peacemakers, if the Maker of peace be with us.

It is in the way of truth that real peace is found. If we quit the faith or leave the path of righteousness under the notion of promoting peace, we shall be greatly mistaken. First pure, then peaceable, is the order of wisdom and of fact. Let us keep to Paul's line, and we shall have the God of peace with us as He was with the apostle.

Friday 7 March 2014

Some children who have fathers are not much the better off because of them

In thee the fatherless findeth mercy. (Hosea 14:3)

This is an excellent reason for casting away all other confidences and relying upon the Lord alone. When a child is left without its natural protector, our God steps in and becomes his guardian: so also when a man has lost every object of dependence, he may cast himself upon the living God and find in Him all that he needs. Orphans are cast upon the fatherhood of God, and He provides for them. The writer of these pages knows what it is to hang on the bare arm of God, and he bears his willing witness that no trust is so well warranted by facts, or so sure to be rewarded by results, as trust in the invisible but ever-living God.

Some children who have fathers are not much the better off because of them, but the fatherless with God are rich. Better have God and no other friend than all the patrons on the earth and no God. To be bereaved of the creature is painful, but so long as the Lord remains the fountain of mercy to us, we are not truly orphaned. Let fatherless children plead the gracious word for this morning, and let all who have been bereaved of visible support do the same, Lord, let me find mercy in Thee! The more needy and helpless I am, the more confidently do I appeal to Thy loving heart.

Thursday 6 March 2014

That house is most blest in which the master and mistress are Godfearing people

He blesseth the habitation of the just. (Proverbs 3:33)

He fears the Lord, and therefore he comes under the divine protection even as to the roof which covers himself and his family. His home is an abode of love, a school of holy training, and a place of heavenly light. In it there is a family altar where the name of the Lord is daily had in reverence. Therefore the Lord blesses his habitation. It may be a humble cottage or a lordly mansion; but the Lord's blessing comes because of the character of the inhabitant and not because of the size of the dwelling.

That house is most blest in which the master and mistress are Godfearing people; but a son or daughter or even a servant may bring a blessing on a whole household. The Lord often preserves, prospers, and provides for a family for the sake of one or two in it, who are "just" persons in His esteem, because His grace has made them so. Beloved, let us have Jesus for our constant guest even as the sisters of Bethany had, and then we shall be blessed indeed.

Let us look to it that in all things we are just--in our trade, in our judgment of others, in our treatment of neighbors, and in our own personal character. A just God cannot bless unjust transactions.

Them that honor me I mill honor. (1 Samuel 2:30)

Them that honor me I mill honor. (1 Samuel 2:30)

Do I make the honor of God the great object of my life and the rule of my conduct? If so, He will honor me. I may for a while receive no honor from man, but God will Himself put honor upon me in the most effectual manner. In the end it will be found the surest way to honor to be willing to be put to shame for conscience' sake.

Eli had not honored the Lord by ruling his household well, and his sons had not honored the Lord by behavior worthy of their sacred office, and therefore the Lord did not honor them but took the high priesthood out of their family and made young Samuel to be ruler in the land instead of any of their tine. If I would have my family ennobled, I must honor the Lord in all things. God may allow the wicked to win worldly honors; but the dignity which He Himself gives, even glory, honor, and immortality, He reserves for those who by holy obedience take care to honor Him.

What can I do this day to honor the Lord? I will promote His glory by my spoken testimony and by my practical obedience, I will also honor Him with my substance and by offering to Him some special service. Let me sit down and think how I can honor Him, since He will honor me.

Tuesday 4 March 2014

"Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead, I'll follow where He goes."

"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."-Isaiah 48:10
 
Comfort thyself, tried believer, with this thought: God saith, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Does not the word come like a soft shower, assuaging the fury of the flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armour, against which the heat hath no power? Let affliction come-God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayst stride in at my door, but God is in the house already, and He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayst intrude, but I have a balsam ready-God has chosen me. Whatever befalls me in this vale of tears, I know that He has "chosen" me. If, believer, thou requirest still greater comfort, remember that you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent chamber of yours, there sitteth by your side One whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when thou knowest it not, He makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smooths thy pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty; but in that lovely house of thine the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor. He loves to come into these desolate places, that He may visit thee. Thy friend sticks closely to thee. Thou canst not see Him, but thou mayst feel the pressure of His hands. Dost thou not hear His voice? Even in the valley of the shadow of death He says, "Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God." Remember that noble speech of Caesar: "Fear not, thou carriest Caesar and all his fortune." Fear not, Christian; Jesus is with thee. In all thy fiery trials, His presence is both thy comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom He has chosen for His own. "Fear not, for I am with thee," is His sure word of promise to His chosen ones in the "furnace of affliction." Wilt thou not, then, take fast hold of Christ, and say-
 
"Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead, I'll follow where He goes."