Have Faith in God!!

These are days when we need to have our faith strengthened, when we need to know God. God has designed that the just shall live by faith. Any man can be changed by faith, no matter how he may be fettered. I know that God’s word is sufficient. One word from Him can change a nation. His word is from everlasting to everlasting. It is through the entrance of this everlasting Word, this incorruptible seed, that we are born again, and come into this wonderful salvation. Man cannot live by bread alone, but must live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  (Matthew 4:4) This is the food of faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Everywhere men are trying to discredit the Bible and take from it all the miraculous. One preacher says, “Well, you know, Jesus arranged beforehand to have that colt tied where it was, and for the men to say just what they did.” I tell you God can arrange everything without going near. He can plan for you, and when He plans for you, all is peace. All things are possible if you will believe. Another preacher said, “It was an easy thing for Jesus to feed the people with five loaves. The loaves were so big in those days that it was a simple matter to cut them into a thousand pieces each.” But He forgot that one little boy brought those five loaves all the way in his lunch basket. There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is with us when we measure God by the limitations of our unbelief. 

[Smith Wigglesworth]

Mark 11:23-24 ... For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

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Darkness Trembles

 He makes the darkness tremble.

                                                                          

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John 1:5 ... And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

James 2:19 ... Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. ❤

Battle Hymn of The Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword, His truth is marching on. 

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps, They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps. I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps, His day is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel, As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal. Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, Since my God is marching on. 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat, He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat. Oh, be swift, my soul to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet, Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on.  His truth is marching on. 

[Julia Ward Howe] 

1 Peter 4:13 ...  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. ❤

Greatest Earthly Blessing

I bear witness that the worst days I have ever had, have turned out to be my best days. In the same way, when God has seemed to be the unkindest to me, He has then been the most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would thank Him more than for all else, it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things, His richest and tenderest love has been most manifested towards me. I am certain that I have never grown in grace, one-half so much anywhere else, as I have upon the bed of pain. I have learned to kiss the wave, that throws me against the Rock of Ages.

Affliction is the best piece of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister's library. Those who dive in the sea of affliction, bring up rare pearls.

God's love letters are often sent in black envelopes. The cloud that is black with horror, is big with mercy. We may not ask for trouble; but if we were wise, we would look upon affliction as the harbinger of an unusually great blessing.

Dread the calm: it is often treacherous; and the pestilence is often lurking beneath its wing. Fear not the storm: it brings healing in its wings, and when Jesus is with you in the vessel, then the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven.

God is too good to be unkind, and He is too wise to be mistaken. When we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.

I venture to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness. The furnace of affliction is the most beneficial place for you, Christian.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

Hebrews 12:5-11 ... And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. ❤

The Scale!!

Put your soul in one side of the scale and put all that the world calls good and great in the other side. Think of everything that the heart of man can desire riches, honor, pleasure, power. Heap it up well! Fill one side of the scale until there is no room for more. Put in all the gold of Australia, all the diamonds of India, all the delights of youthful love, all the pleasures of wife and home, of children and friends, of health and strength, of name and fame. Put in all that the natural mind of man deems the height of happiness, and everything that may weigh this side of the scale down. Now, when you have filled this side of the scale, put your soul into the other side the state of your soul for all eternity. Represent to yourself your deathbed and hold the scale with dying hands as lying just at the brink of eternity. See how the scale now hangs!

What if you had the whole world that you have put into the scale and could call it all your own; but at that solemn hour felt that your soul was forever lost that you were dying under the wrath of God and there was nothing before you but an eternity of misery! At such a moment as this, what could you put in the scale equal to the weight of your immortal soul?

Take the scale again. Put into one side, every affliction, trial, sorrow, and distress that imagination can conceive, or tongue express. Let them all be your distress of mind, pain of body, poverty of circumstances, contempt from man, assaults from Satan, Job's afflictions, Jacob's bereavements, David's persecutions, Jeremiah's prison, Hezekiah's sickness. Put into this side of the scale everything that makes life miserable and then put into the other side, a saved soul.

Surely, as in the case of worldly honors, and riches, and happiness a lost soul must weigh them all down!

So, in the case of afflictions and sorrows and troubles a saved soul must weigh them all down too!

[J. C. Philpot]

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Luke 12:20 ... But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Matthew 16:26 ...  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ❤

"Come To Me!"

Jesus calls you to His throne of grace. He is there waiting to hear, relieve and bless you. You are to go to Him just as you are and receive from Him all you need.

He will give you: wisdom, to direct your steps; peace, to keep your hearts; strength, to do His will; righteousness, to justify your souls; and rest, unspeakably sweet.

He is glorified in bestowing these blessings upon you. He calls you this morning, this moment to receive all you need, without money and without price. What a precious Savior is Jesus! What a kind and tender Friend!

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

"Come!" He says, "Come to Me! Do not go to SELF, to the world, to the empty cisterns which creatures idolize; but come unto Me, and I will do immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine!  Your sins, I will pardon; your graces, I will revive; your comforts, I will restore; your holiness, I will increase; your efforts to glorify Me, I will crown with success; I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing!"

[James Smith]

Matthew 11:28 ... Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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Lost and Found

When man is lost, he has earned it.

When man is saved, it is a gift.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

 

Ephesians 2:8 ... For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Acts 20:21 ... And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ❤

Letter to John Newton

To Rev. John Newton,

Oh, what is man! How easily we spy the vanity and inconsistency in another, and how hardly we discern it in ourselves.

The foulest stain, and worst absurdity in our nature, is pride! And yet this vile hedgehog so rolls himself up in his bristly coat, that we can seldom get a sight of his claws.

Pride cleaves to us, like a shirt soaked in tar cleaves to the skin. No sharp ploughing and harrowing will clear the ground of it. This foul weed will be sure to spring up with the next rain!

Pride follows me like my shadow!

This diabolical sin has brought more scourges on my back than everything else! It is of so insinuating a nature, that I know not how to rid myself of it.

I hate it and love it.

I quarrel with it and embrace it.

I dread it and yet allow it to lie in my bosom.

It pleads a right, through the fall, to be a tenant for life. It has such an amazing appetite that it can feed both on grace and garbage! It will be as warm and snug in a monastery, as a brothel and be as much delighted with a fine prayer, as a foul curse!

Lord, save me! If pride must dwell with me, let it not be a lordly master, but a loathed viper!

Oh, that I could once say unto you, foul pride: "Farewell forever!"

There is no Christian grace, but pride will creep into its bosom and mix with it as freely as oil with oil.

Nor is Lady Pride ever so delighted as when she becomes intimate with humility, and by soft caresses and kind speeches, encourages the sweet damsel to think highly of herself, even when she looks and talks humbly.

One moment she whispers and tells me that I am a fine fellow and then I am elated.

By and by, she calls me a fool and then I am sullen.

I can do no religious act, but pride is skulking at my elbow and much affecting me both by her smiles and frowns.

This foul pride besieges my heart, besets all my steps, and meets me at every turn.

Pride has more heads than a Hydra! (A mythological serpentine water monster which had many heads. Every time someone would cut off one of them, two more heads would grow out!)

Pride has more shapes than Proteus! (A mythical Greek figure who could assume a different shape at will.)

It is such an odd mysterious evil that I can even be proud of loathing my pride.

Henceforth if you ask my real name, it is Pride!

Yours,

John Berridge

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Your Light...

Your light is not from yourself; it comes from God. Do not hide your faith.  Shine brightly so that others may see your life in Christ and then glorify God.

Matthew 5:16 ... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

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Our Great Lesson!

At best we know but little, and we are slow to learn. But the Lord has promised to instruct us. The Lord's teaching always produces humility, self-loathing, confidence in God, zeal for His glory, and heart-devotion to Him! 

The Lord's teaching always brings us to the feet of Jesus and delivers us from the present evil world. Under Divine instruction we learn the true nature of sin, the vanity of the world, the emptiness of creatures, and the fullness and preciousness of Christ! 

Is God willing to instruct us? Then let us be early and often at His throne of grace; praying, as the Psalmist did, "Show me Your ways, O LORD, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me; for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long." (Psalm 25:4-5) Then shall we exclaim, as Elihu did, "God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him!" (Job 36:22) 

The Lord will teach us to profit and sanctify us through the truth He imparts. Christ is our great lesson, and to know Him rightly is life, peace and joy! Is Jesus your teacher? Then sit at His feet, treasure up His Words, and show forth His praise! He says, "Learn of Me." Learn to know Him, love Him, obey Him, and live upon Him! 

[James Smith]

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Psalm 27:11...  Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Psalm 32:8 ...  I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. ❤

The Curtain Falls

 Unbeliever, what is your hope?

To live long? Yes, and what then?

To bring up a family? Yes, and what then?

To see them comfortably settled in life? Yes, and what then?

To be a grandfather to a numerous progeny? Yes, and what then?

To reach extreme old age in peaceful retirement? Yes, and what then?

The curtain falls! Let me lift it:

The cemetery.

The judgment throne of God.

Sentence on your soul.

The trumpet of resurrection.

Final doom.

Body and soul in Hell forever.

You have no better prospect.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Matthew 25:46 ... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Hebrews 10:26-27 ... For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. ❤