The Unerring Hand of Infinite Wisdom - Thomas Reade

Matthew Henry On Proverbs 18

The Renewed Journey

Eventide at Bethel: Chapter 17  

By John MacDuff


      "Arduous is the conflict, but abundant the strength--hard the toil, but glorious the reward. O forsake not me, Your child, when walking through the great tumultuous crowd, who know not Your Name. Wide is the sea through which I have to steer my course, and high its swelling waves; but grace is the breeze that fills the sails; my compass is faith, and my pilot, Christ."--Tholuck's "Hours of Devotion."

      "Let me set forth anew, O Lord, as a pilgrim on the earth, with my rod and staff, and so set my heart on You, that in all places You may be my dwelling-place and home, until I return here to my last resting-place."--Memorials of a Quiet Life.

      "Then Jacob went on his journey."--Genesis 29:1.

We cannot do better than begin this chapter in the words of Christian in the "Pilgrim's Progress"--"Who can tell how joyful this man was when he had gotten his roll again! For this roll was the assurance of his life, and acceptance at the desired haven. Therefore, he laid it up in his bosom, gave thanks to God for directing his eye to the place where it lay, and with joy and tears betook himself to his journey."

So it was with the Pilgrim Dreamer of Bethel. "He went on his journey," or, as these words literally mean, "he lifted up his feet." They are rendered in the Jewish Commentary--"His heart lifted up his feet." The waking dread and terror had given way to reassured peace and joy. Vows of covenant love having been interchanged between him and his God, like a desert wayfarer of Apostolic times after a similar Gospel revelation--"he went on his way rejoicing" (Acts 8:39). The spirit and sentiment of the unwritten 121st Psalms might well, from first to last, be his. Indeed, there is strong ground for surmising that when that "traveler's Psalm" was composed, the inspired Singer of a future age must have had "the Keeper of ISRAEL," "the Shepherd of the stony pillow," before his mental vision. The night scene, the name of the Divine speaker, the very words of the Divine promise, have their echo and reflection in the glowing strain--

I lift up my eyes to the hills--
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip--
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you--
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm--
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

"Jacob went on his journey."--These words, in connection with the Patriarch, may suggest to us, in an emblematic form, some further practical thoughts regarding the life-journey which each of us is pursuing.

I. It is in the active prosecution of the journey--in other words, the earnest spirit in which we discharge our various duties and obligations to God and man--that we go either with "lifted up" or with lagging feet and heart. Life is, or ought to be, at least, no dreamland. It is the idle, purposeless existence which breeds morbid thoughts, and moping feelings, and peevish reflections on the Divine dealings. "Go," said God to another Wayfarer, whose case has already suggested more than one parallel with that of Jacob--"Go on your way; Return to duty. Leave juniper-trees and deserts behind you. Go anoint Hazael; Go anoint Jehu; Go anoint Elisha; and in the resumption of assigned life-work, languor and misgivings will take to flight" (1 Kings 19:15, 16).

A SHADOW FROM THE HEAT

By Bible Names of God


      Isai 25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.

What Divine compassion is suggested here! The burning heat that pierces to our very heart as Satan uses all of his powers to overcome us, --- and then, suddenly, the "Shadow" that seperates us from the burning blast and our heart is cooled and restful! What has occured? Our Lord has revealed Himself and in the shadow of His wings we rejoice and are comforted. We hear His voice speaking to us, and, lo, it is the cool of the evening!

Blessed Lord, overshadow us with Thy presence today, and let the cool breezes from the secret place of the Most High refresh our souls. Amen.

Exploring Divine Revelation

By A.W. Tozer

God has given us a broad world of truth for our spiritual and intellectual habitation. This universe of truth is to the human soul as limitless as the air to a bird or the sea to a fish. There the Christian mind can luxuriate at perfect liberty. While the ages unfold the believer will need no more than has been already given, for it represents the broad and manifold will of God, the happy home of saints and angels.

This vast sea of truth is expressed in nature, in the Holy Scriptures and in Christ, the Wisdom of God incarnate. Its rational phase can be reduced to a creed which may be learned as one would learn any other truth, and which when so learned constitutes Christian orthodoxy, best and most perfectly embodied in the beliefs of modern evangelical Christianity.

But we must also remember that orthodoxy is not synonymous with Procrustean uniformity. We may bring every thought into accord with divine revelation without sacrificing our intellectual freedom. We can be orthodox without becoming mentally stultified. We can believe every tenet of the Christian creed and still leave our imagination free to roam at will through the broad worlds of nature and grace. We are free but not 'freethinkers.'

By Spiritual Confusion

By Oswald Chambers      'Ye know not what ye ask.' Matthew 20:22 There are times in spiritual life when there is confusion, and it is no way out to say that there ought not to be confusion. It is not a question of right and wrong, but a question of God taking you by a way which in the meantime you do not under stand, and it is only by going through the confusion that you will get at what God wants. The Shrouding of His Friendship. Luke 11:5-8. Jesus gave the illustration of the man who looked as if he did not care for his friend, and He said that that is how the Heavenly Father will appear to you at times. You will think He is an unkind friend, but remember He is not; the time will come when everything will be explained. There is a cloud on the friendship of the heart, and often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller communion. When God looks completely shrouded, will you hang on in confidence in Him? The Shadow on His Fatherhood. Luke 11:11-13. Jesus says there are times when your Father will appear as if He were an unnatural father, as if He were callous and indifferent, but remember He is not; I have told you - "Everyone that asketh receiveth." If there is a shadow on the face of the Father just now, hang onto it that He will ultimately give His clear revealing and justify Himself in all that He permitted. The Strangeness of His Faithfulness. Luke 18:1-8. "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" Will He find the faith which banks on Him in spite of the confusion? Stand off in faith believing that what Jesus said is true, though in the meantime you do not under stand what God is doing. He has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you ask.

STRIPPING FOR THE RACE

Way Into the Holiest - 27: 

By F.B. Meyer

"Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (HEBREWS 12.1-2).

WHEN, in his Egyptian campaign, the Emperor Napoleon was leading his troops through the neighbourhood of the Pyramids, he pointed to those hoary remnants of a great antiquity, and said, "Soldiers, forty centuries look down on you!

Similarly there have been summoned before our thought in the preceding chapter the good and great, the martyrs, confessors, prophets, and kings of the past. We have been led through the corridors of the divine mausoleum, and bidden to read the names and epitaphs of those of whom God was not ashamed.

We have felt our faith grow stronger as we read and pondered the inspiring record, and now, by a single touch, these saintly souls are depicted as having passed from the arena into the crowded tiers, from which to observe the course which we are treading today. They were witnesses to the necessity, nature, and power of faith. They are witnesses also of our lives and struggles, our victories and defeats, our past and present.

And they are compared to a cloud. One of the finest pictures in the world is that of the Madonna de San Sisto at Dresden, which depicts the infant Saviour in the arms of His mother, surrounded by clouds, which attracted no special notice until lately, but when the accumulated dust of centuries was removed, they were found to be composed of myriads of angel faces. Surely this is the thought of the inspired writer when he speaks of "so great a cloud of witnesses."

In some of the more spacious amphitheatres of olden times, the spectators rose in tier above tier to the number of forty or fifty thousand, and to the thought of the combatant as he looked around on this vast multitude of human faces, set in varied and gorgeous colouring, these vast congregations of his race must have appeared like clouds, composed of infinitesimal units, but all making up one mighty aggregate, and bathed in such hues as are cast on the clouds at sunrise or sunset by the level sun.

If before this time these Hebrew Christians had been faltering, and inclined to relinquish their earnestness, they would have been strangely stirred and quickened by the thought that they were living under the close inspection of the spirits of the mighty dead. To us also the same exhortation applies.

THE SPEED OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. "Let us run." We must not sit still to be carried by the stream. We must not loiter and linger as children returning from a summer's ramble. We must not even walk as men with measured step. We must run. Nor are we only to run as those who double their pace to an easy trot; we must run as men who run a race. The idea of a race is generally competition. Here it is only concentration of purpose, singleness of aim, intensity.

Life in earnest - that is the idea. But how far do we seem from it! And what a contrast there is between our earnestness in all beside, and in our devotion to God and man! We are willing enough to join in the rush of business competition, in the race for wealth, in the heated discussion of politics, and in social life in the pursuit of pleasure, but, ah! how soon we slacken when it becomes a question of how much we are willing to do for God!

How earnest men are around us! Newton pouring over his problems till the midnight wind sweeps over his pages the ashes of his long-extinguished fire. Reynolds sitting, brush in hand, before his canvas for thirty six hours together, summoning into life forms of beauty that seemed glad to come. Dryden composing in a single fortnight his Ode for St. Cecilia's Day. Buffon dragged from his beloved slumbers to his more beloved studies. And the biographer who records these traits himself rising with the dawn to prepare for the demands of his charge.

Five Kings in a Cave

And Judas Iscariot: Chapter 12 - Five Kings in a Cave

By J. Wilbur Chapman

TEXT: "And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight."--Joshua 10:24-25.

The history of the children of Israel is one of the most fascinating stories ever written. It abounds in illustrations which are as practical and helpful as any that may be used to-day, drawn from our every-day experience. God certainly meant that we should use their story in this way, for in the New Testament we read that the things which happened to them were as ensamples for us. The word "ensample" means type, or figure, or illustration.

To appreciate this text and the story of the five imprisoned kings we must go back a little bit to the place where the leadership of Moses had been transferred to Joshua. God is never at a loss for a man; his plans are never frustrated. If Moses is to be set aside Joshua is in preparation for his position. Doubtless Joshua may have felt somewhat restrained, as he was kept in a position of not very great prominence, but he certainly realized when he stood as the leader of the children of Israel that all things had been working together for the good of his leadership, and doubtless he praised Jehovah for his goodness to him. There are many incidents in connection with the immediate story of the children of Israel which should be mentioned here.

When they were ready to move towards Canaan Joshua told them that when the soles of the feet of the priests touched the water of the Jordan the water would stand on either side before them and they could pass dry shod into Canaan. Suddenly the marching began. They stood within three feet of the waters, which ran the same as they had been running for years; then two feet, then one, and then six inches, but there was no parting of the waters before them. Let us remember that God had said, "When the soles of the feet of the priests touch the water they shall separate." And it was even as he said, and on dry land the children of Israel passed over to the other side. It is a perfectly natural thing for one who is unregenerate to say, "Why insist upon confession, and the acceptance of Christ, and how can the mere acceptance of the Savior save me from the penalty and the power of sin?" But a countless multitude will rise to-day to say, "It was when we stepped out upon what we could not understand and what seemed as impassable and impossible as the parting of the waters of the Jordan that God gave us light and peace."

When once they were in Canaan what an interesting story that is in connection with Rahab of Jericho! The spies had entered her home and a mob outside was seeking them that they might put them to death. Rahab promised them deliverance, only she exacted from them a promise in return that they would save alive her father and her mother and her loved ones; and when she let them down by means of a cord from the window of her home they said to her, "Bind this scarlet cord in the window and gather your loved ones here and they shall be saved." And when the children of Israel had marched about Jericho and the walls were about to fall, suddenly they lifted their eyes and they saw the red cord fluttering from the window, and while all else was destroyed Rahab and all her loved ones were saved.

What a little thing evidently stood between them and death--just a red cord! And yet as a matter of fact it is only a red cord that is between us and death--namely, the blood of the Son of God; for, as in the Old Testament times when God saw the blood and the destroying angel passed over the home, so in these New Testament times the blood which has been received by faith insures us our safety and we are set free from sin's penalty and sin's power.

The Final Call of God

By T. Austin-Sparks

History is marked by a recurrent crisis which has three aspects. Whenever God has considered that the time has come for judgment, that ordeal by fire has involved these three issues. Judgment is not only penalty or punishment; it is firstly discovery and uncovering. Then it is discrimination and putting things in the category to which they belong because of what they are. Finally, it is passing sentence accordingly, and fixing destiny. This is clearly observable in all the Divine visitations in the history of nations and of the people of God. It will be fully and ultimately true of the last phase of this present world-history - disclosure, discrimination, destiny.

We have a very clear and definite instance of this represented in the fiftieth Psalm.

It has not yet been finally settled as to what part of history this Psalm belongs. Who this Asaph was is not certain. The conditions referred to in the Psalm do not very well fit into the national situation in the time of David and Solomon, when Asaph was the leader of the music. They are more like those of a later time when that glorious epoch had passed and the glory faded.

But it does not really matter; the Psalm embodies God's work of judgment at any time of visitation, and the aspects are clear.

Firstly there is the delineation of His fullest and highest thought; that which is His standard, His desire, His joy; that which is His satisfaction.

"God... hath spoken... Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty..."

God has an object and a pattern to which He is committed, and this is the background against which His judgment is placed. God cannot judge until He has clearly shown and revealed that which He desires and that for which He has made every provision. Judgment will ever be according to the will of God, as revealed and known; or, at least, as made available to knowledge.

In this Psalm, as in so many others, and in the Prophets, Zion is the synonym for that which embodies the full pleasure and satisfaction of God's heart and mind. In the New Testament, Zion is no longer any earthly point, but is synonymous with the Church ideally; which, again, is Christ in corporate expression (Hebrews 12:22,23).

This Divine conception and intention has been fully and gloriously revealed to a whole dispensation through the last 'Letters' of the Apostle Paul. We have this revelation, and it will be over against this revealed mind of God that judgment is to take place. In the sovereignty of God there is a great renewal of attention being drawn to these 'Church' Letters in our time. Perhaps never was there such a large place being given to these writings as at this present time. Upon this basis the judgment will rest, as in the case of the churches in Asia (Revelation 1-3), for it is here that the fullest and ultimate thought of God is revealed and presented. "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty..." Then immediately follows - "Our God shall come... a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him".

Three things characterize this 'coming to judgment'. We take them in reverse order.

(1) "But unto the wicked God saith..." (verse 16). "Now consider this, ye that forget God" (verse 22).

Fearful things are said as pending for the 'wicked' who are described as those who 'forget God': those who have not God in their thought when so many evidences of Him abound.

(2) The middle section has to do with the judgment of formalism: the judgment to uncover and reveal what is merely outward and formal. Here is a whole system of ritual; sacrifices, altars, priests, and ceremonies. The fiery ordeal will show how much there is in the religious world, that is, of "truth in the inward parts"; whether it is a matter of the very life and character, or merely a system of rites and practices. Here is a massive structure of profession which will collapse and become ashes in the day when "Our God shall come".

The Songbird and the Flower

by CHIP BROGDEN

In a land not too far away lived a songbird. According to outward appearances this songbird was no different than the rest. She had blue feathers, a white breast, and a yellow bill. But she also had a very special gift!

Her gift was discovered one day quite by accident. She enjoyed singing to the Lord and worshipped Him at every opportunity. It was her custom to wake up early to see the sunrise and spend time worshipping the Lord. She had done this every morning since she was a little bird.

Her song carried unusually far one morning. Her neighbor, the squirrel, was sitting in his little recliner with a cup of tea, reading the morning newspaper, when suddenly this magnificent song came wafting through the open window! “I have to find out where that’s coming from!” he exclaimed. Jumping up out of his chair, he ran through the door and into the field, looking for the source of the beautiful music.

Also, at that exact moment, a deer was walking through the woods and heard the same sweet melody. “What singing!” she cried. “I wonder who it could be?” And she, too, went off to find out where the music was coming from.

The songbird, of course, was oblivious to the excitement she had generated. She was lost in her worship when suddenly the squirrel arrived on the scene, followed by the deer – and about a dozen other animals!

“Where did you learn to sing like that?” they all asked with great admiration.

The songbird shrugged her shoulders. “I always sing like this whenever I want to give praise to the Lord. I hope I didn’t disturb you.”

“Disturb us?” answered the deer. “We think it is wonderful! How uplifting to hear such beautiful singing early in the morning. You really have a gift!”

“I do?” asked the songbird.

“Absolutely!” said the squirrel. “God blessed you to bless others, and you shouldn’t let that gift go to waste. You have a special calling!” And all the other animals agreed.

“I don’t want to waste my gift,” answered the bird. “What should I do?”

“Come with us to the church service this morning,” said the deer. “I’ll speak to the pastor about you and he’ll let you sing for the congregation!”

The songbird wasn’t sure what to do about all this attention, but she didn’t want to waste her gift, and she certainly wanted to bless others with what she had been blessed with. So she agreed to go.

* * *

Of course, the congregation of animals were blessed by the singing songbird, and she was such a blessing that they invited her to sing every Sunday morning. The little group began to grow as a result of the songbird’s beautiful voice. In no time the songbird became the worship leader. Not only was she responsible for selecting the music and leading the worship service, but she was supposed to conduct the choir practice twice a week and teach voice to the pastor’s daughter (the crow) so she could one day sing as well as the songbird.

One Sunday morning a group of eagles arrived, listened to the songbird, and watched her very carefully. After the service, the eagles gathered around the songbird and began to prophesy! “The Lord says that you have a special anointing, and He will give you an international ministry!”

Of course, the songbird was very thrilled about this, because she wanted to use her gift and she wanted to be a blessing. Another member of the church, the fox, offered to record her music and put it on CD. “That way,” he explained, “You can reach more animals and be a blessing to God’s creatures all over the world. This is what the Lord meant when He said He was giving you an international ministry!”

Before long the CD’s were produced, and the fox had promoted them all over the world. The orders began to come in, and everyone said they were blessed by the songbird’s music. Then came the invitations! “Is the songbird available to come to our church?” Everyone wanted their own live performance, and the fox took care of everything.

“Congratulations!” he told the songbird. “You’re booked up for ministry every week for the next two years, and your CD’s are in record stores all over the world. Now you can be in the full-time ministry! The Lord has really blessed you!”

So the songbird took her itinerary from the fox and began flying all over the world to meet the demands of her full-time ministry schedule. The fox even made her a special backpack so she could take all her CD’s and ministry resources with her and raise money for her ministry.

The songbird sang in church services, and in retreats, and in conventions, and in concerts. She truly enjoyed meeting all the other animals, and she still enjoyed singing. She was getting a little tired of flapping her wings all the time to get from one ministry event to the other, and her voice seemed to be losing some of its former strength and purity from being used all the time, but she accepted that as part of fulfilling the call on her life. Besides, no one seemed to notice. Everyone loved her, and wanted to hear her.

* * *

How Great Thou Art: Norm Hastings, Piano

Worshipers then Workers

By A.W. Tozer


      The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to restore the lost soul to intimate fellowship with God through the washing of regeneration. To accomplish this He first reveals Christ to the penitent heart (1 Cor. 12:3). He then goes on to illumine the newborn soul with brighter rays from the face of Christ (John 14:26; 16:13-15) and leads the willing heart into depths and heights of divine knowledge and communion.

Remember, we know Christ only as the Spirit enables us and we have only as much of Him as the Holy Spirit imparts. God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship. It is inconceivable that a sovereign and holy God should be so hard up for workers that He would press into service anyone who had been empowered regardless of his moral qualifications. The very stones would praise Him if the need arose and a thousand legions of angels would leap to do His will. Gifts and power for service the Spirit surely desires to impart; but holiness and spiritual worship come first.

Prayer— Battle in "The Secret Place"

Prayer— Battle in "The Secret Place"

Oswald chambers Aug 23 2011When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly —Matthew 6:6 Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “. . . pray to your Father who is in the secret place. . . .” Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer. We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, “This needs to be done, and I have to do that today.” Jesus says to “shut your door.” Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from “the secret place”— He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in “the secret place,” it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into “the secret place,” and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and “pray to your Father who is in the secret place,” every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.

Give us a King

With New Testament Eyes: 28 

By Henry Mahan


      1 Samuel 8:1-22

Samuel, Hannah's son (whose name means 'asked of God'), remained with Eli, the priest and prophet of God, and ministered unto the Lord before Eli (1 Sam. 2:11; 1 Sam. 3:1). Eli was quite old and had failed to discipline his sons; therefore, God slew them (1 Sam. 3:10-14). Samuel became God's prophet and judge in Israel (1 Sam. 3:19-21). Samuel was a faithful prophet of God all the days of his life (1 Sam. 7:15-17). When he was old, Samuel made his sons judges over Israel; but, like Eli's sons, they perverted judgment, took bribes, and displeased the Lord (1 Sam. 8:1-3). The elders of Israel came to Samuel and requested that he establish a KING over Israel, like the nations about them (1 Sam. 8:4-5).

This matter had risen before during the days of Gideon (Judges 8:22-23); and Gideon had wisely replied to their request, 'I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.' The people of God have no king but Jesus Christ, the Lord (Matt. 23:8-11). Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords (Acts 2:36; Rom. 10:9-10; Phil. 2:9-11).

The request of the elders displeased Samuel, and he knew it to be evil. But he took the matter to the Lord in prayer, and the Lord revealed what was really behind their request. 'They have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them' (1 Sam. 8:6-8).

Thomas, the disciple, summed up the faith and submission of all believers when he said, 'My Lord and my God.' Christ is our King by the Father's design and decree; he is our King by his death (He died that he might be Lord of the dead and the living); and he is our King, by our submission. It is his crown rights that men refuse to own. 'We will not have this man to reign over us' (John 19:15). He was delivered to Pilate, charged with saying, 'He himself is Christ a King' (Luke 23:1-2). The soldiers mocked him as 'King of the Jews' (John 19:1-3). Over his head, nailed to the cross, was the charge against him, 'Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews' (John 19:19). And it is as prophet, priest, and KING that believers recognize, receive, and bow to the Lord Jesus, not just as 'personal Saviour.' There are those in modern religion who talk of accepting Jesus as their Saviour but not as their Lord. This is an impossibility! One knows nothing of the saving mercy and merits of Christ who does not bow to Christ, the Lord! Israel was glad to receive God's blessings, but not his reign! They never refused his benefits, but they refused his sceptre! One noted evangelist often said, 'Christ will be Lord of all or not Lord at all.' Christ said to his disciples, 'Ye call me master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am' (John 13:13). Redemption is the enthronement of Christ in the heart. A man cannot serve two masters. Our Lord demands total submission and surrender to his Lordship of those who would be his disciples (Matt. 10: 34-39).

The Lord told Samuel to tell the people what to expect when they reject his reign and make a man to be king over them (1 Sam. 8:9-18). But the blind and foolish people only cried out the more, 'Nay. but we will have a king, over us' (1 Sam. 8:19-20).

Samuel heard their words and rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord, and the Lord said, 'Make them a king' (1 Sam. 8:21-22; 1 Sam. 10:18-19).

The first order of business of the new king, Saul, after he had reigned but two years, was to usurp the authority of the priest, reject God's way of atonement, and offer a sacrifice himself to God (1 Sam. 13:1, 8-14). The people reject Christ the King, and then Christ the Priest and sacrifice.

God's Means of Achieving His Purpose

By T. Austin-Sparks


By what means does God reach His end in His people? What is God's means of achieving His purpose? It is by the Spirit of sonship through the Cross. There is no hope of reaching God's end, or of even taking the first step in that direction, without the Spirit as the Spirit of sonship.

First there must be the infant cry, "Father"! There must be that relationship brought about by the Spirit. Then the Spirit of sonship, once He is within, must proceed fully to form Christ in us. Thus the Apostle says, "My little children, for whom I am again in travail till Christ be fully formed in you." It is not a case of my struggling toward God's end, but of the Spirit of God's Son in me energizing toward God's end. Oh, that we had faith here! If you really have faith on this particular point, you will have the secret, of a profound rest.

You know, we have our "off" times spiritually - "off" times in the prayer life when it seems impossible to pray; "off" times in many other ways spiritually. No matter how we struggle, we can make nothing of it. What are we going to do? Well, if my experience is of any value to you - and I believe I have discovered just a little of the secret of things - I have come to this position: Through the Spirit Christ is in me, and everything is with Him - not with me. It is not what I can do, nor what I cannot do, nor how I am today; all is with Him.

Today, maybe, I am not conscious of His indwelling, but on the contrary very conscious of other things that are not Christ. Well, that is my state; but He is faithful, He is true. He has given me certain assurances about never leaving nor forsaking me, about abiding through all the days to the end, and about perfecting unto the day of Christ a good work which He hath commenced.

He started this thing - I did not; He undertook this thing. Before ever I had a being, He had undertaken to carry through His perfect work in any one who would trust Him. That was all undertaken for before ever I saw the light of day, so that I did not start this - it is not commenced with me. My one thing to do is to trust Him - trust Him - and, if I cannot break through, to say: "Lord, I cannot pray just at the present; I must trust you to do all the praying."

No one who really has his heart set upon the Lord will take hold of a statement like that as a back-door way out of prayer. I am not trying to give you some excuse for giving up praying. I am saying there are "off" times, and I am not sure that the Lord does not allow us to have such times lest we should begin to build again upon works. He takes us right off that basis and throws us upon Himself, where there is no alternative but to trust Him. You are not surrendering your prayer life in taking that course at a time like that. If you could pray, you would do so; but now in a time of real inability you are just trusting the Lord about it.

I find I have these "off" times, but as I definitely trust the Lord, and say: "Lord, this is Your responsibility, and I know this will not last; that prayer life will come back, and I am trusting you in the meanwhile." It does come back, and in greater fullness and greater blessedness.

Beloved I have proved that again and again. It comes back. It is not merely that you get better and start again. You know quite well that you may be perfectly fit and yet be unable to pray. No one can make prayer. It is not a matter of health and strength to be able to pray. You may be a perfectly strong man or woman, but you cannot get through to heaven in prayer because you are that.

Prayer has to do with an opened heaven - prayer is fellowship with the Lord; and that is His doing, not ours. He brings that. Trust Him. "I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me"; He has the whole matter in hand. While my attitude is one of faith in Him, He will see that there is a prayer life; He will see that there is a life in the Word. Positive faith in Him is the secret of everything in the will of God.

In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given, his writings are not copyrighted. Therefore, we ask if you choose to share them with others, please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of changes, free of charge and free of copyright.

Are You Situated by the Waters?

By Warren Wiersbe

      Read Psalm 1:3-6
     
 A tree is a blessing. It holds soil, provides shade and produces fruit. The godly are like trees, with root systems that go deep into the spiritual resources of God's grace (v. 3). But sadly, many professing Christians are not like trees but are like artificial plants or cut flowers with no roots. They may be beautiful for a while, but soon they die.




      A tree needs light, water and roots to live. We all have resources upon which we draw life. The question we need to ask ourselves is, Where are our roots? The person God can bless is planted by the rivers of water. We must be careful not to be like Christians who are dry and withered and depend upon their own resources. They are like tumbleweeds, blown about by any wind of doctrine.


      To have the blessings of verse 3, we need to meet the conditions of verses 1 and 2. That is, we must first be separated from the world and saturated with the Word to be situated by the waters.


      God desires to bless us, but we need to meet certain conditions to receive His blessings. We bear fruit only when we have roots, and we must draw upon spiritual resources to bring forth fruit in due season. To bear the fruit of the Spirit, we must allow the Spirit to work in us and through us.


      In contrast to the believer, the ungodly are not like trees but are like chaff. They have no roots, produce no fruit and are blown about. The ungodly reject the Word of God and will perish without hope (v. 6). As Christians we must not reject the ungodly but try to reach them. God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others. His Spirit helps us bear fruit that can help win the lost.


      Are you like a tree or like chaff?


      We need God's resources to bear fruit. But where we place our roots is paramount. Only as we grow them deeply into the spiritual resources of God's grace will we produce fruit. Make the Bible your spiritual resource. Delight in it and feed your soul with its truth. God can use you to help win the lost.

God Hunger

By A.W. Tozer

      These words are addressed to those of God's children who have been pierced with the arrow of infinite desire, who yearn for God with a yearning that has overcome them, who long with a longing that has become pain.
     
 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). 


Hunger is a pain. It is God's merciful provision, a divinely sent stimulus to propel us in the direction of food. 


If food-hunger is a pain, thirst, which is water-hunger, is a hundredfold worse, and the more critical the need becomes within the living organism the more acute the pain. It is nature's last drastic effort to rouse the imperiled life to seek to renew itself. A dead body feels no hunger and the dead soul knows not the pangs of holy desire. "If you want God," said the old saint, "you have already found Him." 



Our desire for fuller life is proof that some life must be there already. Our very dissatisfactions should encourage us, our yet unfulfilled aspirations should give us hope. "What I aspired to be, and was not, comforts me," wrote Browning with true spiritual insight. The dead heart cannot aspire.

Transformed By Insight

By Oswald Chambers

      'We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.'
      2 Corinthians 3:1


      The outstanding characteristic of a Christian is this unveiled frankness before God so that the life becomes a mirror for other lives. By being filled with the Spirit we are transformed, and by beholding we become mirrors. You always know when a man has been beholding the glory of the Lord, you feel in your inner spirit that he is the mirror of the Lord's own character. Beware of anything which would sully that mirror in you; it is nearly always a good thing, the good that is not the best.


      The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God. Let everything else - work, clothes, food, everything on earth - go by the board, saving that one thing. 


The rush of other things always tends to obscure this concentration on God. We have to maintain ourselves in the place of beholding, keeping the life absolutely spiritual all through. Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the life that is hid with Christ in God. 


Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him. It is the one thing that is apt to fluctuate but it ought not to. The severest discipline of a Christian's life is to learn how to keep "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord."

MY STRONG ROCK

By Bible Names of God

      Psal 31:2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. {my...: Heb. to me for rock of strength}


      David is in trouble. He wants deliverance and he calls upon the Lord for help. How natural it is! How like our own experiences! This verse is the opening of a great prayer. Turn to your Bible and read it through. Meditate upon it. Were it not true that in the Lord Jesus Christ we have an "anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast", to whom could we turn for refuge and deliverance? Where could we find rest? Praise His Name, we CAN come to Him and pray;


      Dear Lord, we have anchored our faith upon Thee as "Our Strong Rock". Grant us Thy Promised Deliverance. Amen.

A REFUGE FROM THE STORM

By Bible Names of God

      Isai 25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.


      Are we who are His dear ones subject to the storms of life? Yes, for so was He. Did His disciples suffer from the storms of hatred and persecution? Yes, and some even yielded up their lives. There is no evading the storms of life. "All they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution", and the clouds grow heavier as the tribulation days confront us. But He is "A Refuge From The Storm" and a very present Help in times of trouble. He cannot fail. We could never fully realize the value of His presence, or of His love and power, were it not for the storms of life.


      Thou, Who art our sure Refuge, help us to flee to Thee in every storm of life. Amen.

The Queen of Sheba and the Eunuch

By J.G. Bellet


      1 Kings 10; 2 Chr. 9; Acts 8.

These two narratives, found in distant parts of the Word, in common illustrate truths which are as clear and important to us in this distant age and place as ever they were, whether in the time of 2 Chronicles 9 or of Acts 8. In the queen of Sheba and the Ethiopian eunuch, who belonged it may be to the same country, though at such different times, we find dissatisfaction in the best things short of Christ; but rest and fulness in Him, be He known by us, whether in grace or glory.

The queen of the south had all royal honours upon her, and all royal resources around her; she could command the delights of the children of men, and evidently had health and capacity to enjoy them. The world was at her disposal, but the world had left her with an aching, craving heart, and she found no satisfaction in her royal estate, and, ill at ease, she took a long, untried journey from the uttermost parts of the earth to Jerusalem, because she had heard of the wisdom of the king there "concerning the name of the Lord."

She reached Jerusalem, and there she found all and more than she had heard of or calculated on. Her spirit was filled; her eye saw something in everything there that possessed her soul with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; for Christ was there. He shone in those days, in His image and reflection--Solomon, and she was brought into communion with Christ in His glory in the city of the great king, called, as it has well been, "The heaven below the skies." The world had left her heart an aching void, and Christ had now filled it to overflowing; she counted this merchandize better than that of gold and silver, better than that of riches, and getting her questions answered, her soul satisfied, her eye filled with visions of glory, of glory according to God, she presented her gold, her frankincense, her precious stones, the wealth of her kingdom, as a small thank-offering.

The eunuch was a great man under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians; but he had long since, I may say, proved that the vanities of the Ethiopians would not do for him. He appears before us as one who had already cast the idols of that land to the moles and to the bats, and taken up the confession of the name of the God of Israel. In the obedience of this faith he had just gone, where first we see him, to Jerusalem, the city of solemnities, where the worship of the God of Israel was conducted, and he had gone there as a worshipper. But he had left Jerusalem dissatisfied; he was on his way home to the south country with a craving, aching heart; he was still an enquirer, as surely so as the queen of Sheba had been in her day, when she left her native country for the same city--Jerusalem--and the contrast here is vivid. Jerusalem had satisfied the spirit of the queen, but it had left the soul of the eunuch a barren and thirsty place.

These are among the things which show themselves to us in these most interesting pieces of history. But why this? Why would not Jerusalem do for the eunuch what it had done for the queen? Christ was not there in this his day as He had been in her day. Jerusalem was not now the city where the king of glory, in His beauty, was seen and reflected, and where some image of Him, and some token of His presence and magnificence, might be traced everywhere. It was no mount of transfiguration to him as it had been to her. Religiousness was there, but not Christ; the observances and ceremonials of a carnal worship, the doings of a worldly sanctuary, were there, but not the presence of the Christ of God. This made all the difference, and tells us why the eunuch left that very same Jerusalem with an aching heart, which had filled the spirit of the queen of Sheba with an abounding, overflowing joy.

His heart however is to be filled as well as hers, and that too out of the same fountain--Christ; only it is through the prophet Isaiah that Christ is to fill it, and not through Solomon. In a desert spot, on the journey which was taking him back from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, Philip, the servant and witness of Jesus, is directed by the Holy Ghost to meet him. He addresses himself to him in the aching, craving state of mind to which I have already alluded; it possessed him thoroughly, so that no strange circumstance, such as that of meeting a stranger in that desert place, and being addressed by him, has power to move him. The whole scene bears this character--there was the absorbing presence of one thing in his soul, "the expulsive power of a new affection" there. He was reading Isaiah with emotion of heart under the convictions and awakenings of the Spirit of God; but Christ was soon to be introduced to him, and the desert should then rejoice, and in the thirsty land springs of water should flow. "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." And the eunuch then "went on his way rejoicing." Joy did in him and with him now what in earlier days it had done in and with the queen of the south. She trafficked for wisdom, and counted the merchandize of it better than that of gold and silver and precious stones, and she was willing to part with the wealth of her kingdom for it. He now can part with Philip, since his spirit is filled with the joy of the Lord, and he has got the Christ of God as she had got Him.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

Devotional Hours with the Bible, Volume 4: Chapter 40 

By J.R. Miller


      Daniel 2

Dreams have an important place in the Bible. There is no doubt that dreams were really means of divine communication, as in Jacob's ladder, in the dreams of Pharaoh, and in that of Nebuchadnezzar. The account of this dream and its interpretation is very interesting. The king's strange forgetting of it--gave additional opportunity for the glorifying of the true God. Babylon's 'wise men' could not tell the king, what he had forgotten. Then Daniel came.

There is a suggestion in the king's forgetting. Does God never come to us with some revealing, some glimpse of His holiness, some lesson, some vision of truth--which we immediately forget? Some of us forget sermons--before we get home from church! Sometimes we can hardly even remember the minister's text! Sometimes impressions that are vivid and distinct at the time they are made--pass almost entirely from the mind in a little while! The king could not recall any part of the dream which had troubled him so. He demanded of his wise men, that they tell him first what the dream was--and then what it meant. When all his wise men failed to be able to do this, Daniel sent the king word that his God was a revealer of secrets, and that he would make known Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He then told him what the dream was, and afterward made known its message.

Daniel said, "You, O king, are king of kings--unto whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom." The point to be specially noted here--is that all earthly power is from God. He gives it to whoever He will. Kings are appointed to rule for Him and receive their authority from Him. The same is true of all who bear authority, of whatever kind. This gives a sacredness to power, whether it be the parent's, the teacher's, the magistrate's, the overseer's. All human power and authority--is only God's power entrusted. We must use it reverently, in faithfulness, in love.

Napoleon, when he became emperor, took the crown in his own hands and put it on his head, implying that he made himself ruler. Later he learned that power belongs to God; that He puts one down and sets another up.

Daniel proceeded to indicate in detail--the meaning of the vision. "You are the head of gold. And after you shall arise a kingdom inferior to you, and another third kingdom. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things." Thus history ever reads. One kingdom gives place to another. The greatest kingdoms are pushed aside--and thrust down by the less. Not only among nations is this true; we see the same in families and among individuals. The rich of one generation, are the poor of the next. The high in rank today, are forgotten tomorrow. Thrones built by human hands crumble. God can humble the proudest whenever He desires. He can destroy the head of gold; and crush the arms of silver; and break the legs of brass; and demolish the feet of iron and clay! "The snowflakes of Russia humbled Napoleon's pride, and the raindrops at Waterloo sent him into exile!"

Then Daniel went on to describe the element of glory in the vision--the setting up of the kingdom that never should be destroyed. "The God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever!" Right in the midst of the glory of Rome--came Jesus Christ, to set up the kingdom of His Father in this world. This kingdom differed in many ways from those world kingdoms which were pictured in the vision. It was not established by war, by military conquest--but by moral force alone. Christ had no armies of soldiers marching forth with Him to crush opposition. He came not to destroy men's lives--but to save them!

To obey is better than sacrifice

By A.B. Simpson


      0ur healing is represented as a special recompense for obedience. If, therefore, we would please the Lord and have the reward of those who please Him, there is no service so acceptable to Him as our praise. Let us ever meet Him with a glad and thankful heart, and He will reflect it back in the radiance of our countenance and the buoyant life and springing health which are but the echo of a joyful heart.

Further, thankfulness is the best preparation for faith. Trust grows spontaneously in the praiseful heart. Thankfulness takes the sunny side of the street and looks at the bright side of God, and it is only thus that we can ever trust Him.

Unbelief looks at our troubles and, of course, they seem like mountains, and faith is discouraged by the prospect.

A thankful disposition will always find some cause for cheer and a gloomy one will find a cloud in the brightest sky and a fly in the sweetest ointment. Let us cultivate a spirit of cheerfulness, and we shall find so much in God and in our lives to encourage us that we shall have no room for doubt or fear.

The Captive

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman


      "As I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God . . . and the hand of the Lord was there upon me" (Ezek. 1:1,3).

There is no commentator of the Scriptures half so valuable as a captivity. The old Psalms have quavered for us with a new pathos as we sat by our "Babel's stream," and have sounded for us with new joy as we found our captivity turned as the streams in the South.

The man who has seen much affliction will not readily part with his copy of the Word of God. Another book may seem to others to be identical with his own; but it is not the same to him, for over his old and tear-stained Bible he has written, in characters which are visible to no eyes but his own, the record of his experiences, and ever and anon he comes on Bethel pillars or Elim palms, which are to him the memorials of some critical chapter in his history.

If we are to receive benefit from our captivity we must accept the situation and turn it to the best possible account. Fretting over that from which we have been removed or which has been taken away from us, will not make things better, but it will prevent us from improving those which remain. The bond is only tightened by our stretching it to the uttermost.

The impatient horse which will not quietly endure his halter only strangles himself in his stall. The high-mettled animal that is restive in the yoke only galls his shoulders; and every one will understand the difference between the restless starling of which Sterne has written, breaking its wings against the bars of the cage, and crying, "I can't get out, I can't get out," and the docile canary that sits upon its perch and sings as if it would outrival the lark soaring to heaven's gate.

No calamity can be to us an unmixed evil if we carry it in direct and fervent prayer to God, for even as one in taking shelter from the rain beneath a tree may find on its branches fruit which he looked not for, so we in fleeing for refuge beneath the shadow of God's wing, will always find more in God than we had seen or known before.

It is thus through our trials and afflictions that God gives us fresh revelations of Himself; and the Jabbok ford leads to Peniel, where, as the result of our wrestling, we "see God face to face," and our lives are preserved. Take this to thyself, O captive, and He will give thee "songs in the night," and turn for thee "the shadow of death into the morning." --William Taylor

"Submission to the divine will is the softest pillow on which to recline."

"It filled the room, and it filled my life,
With a glory of source unseen;
It made me calm in the midst of strife,
And in winter my heart was green.
And the birds of promise sang on the tree
When the storm was breaking on land and sea."

"For the Glory of God"

by T. Austin-Sparks

From "The Work of the Ministry" - Volume 1.

"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby" (John 11:4).

"He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44).

"But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus" (John 12:10-11).

We know quite well, but it may be as well if we remind ourselves, that in this Gospel there is brought out the one thing which governs all the interests and activities of God - namely, His glory, and His glory in the face of Jesus Christ: so that the one thing in view, giving meaning to everything, is the glory of God through the Lord Jesus. Let us keep that in mind, because if we detach anything from that we lose both its meaning and value, and probably lose our way. God is doing everything for His glory, and that particularly in the lives of those who are His.

God's Glory Manifested Against a Background of Suffering

Let us now come to the first of these three fragments in this wonderful illustration. "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God". The statement is the explanation and the interpretation of a very mysterious providence, a providence which lifts things which otherwise could be regarded as the common happenings in human life on to another level, and clothes them with majesty, with glory. It is not an uncommon thing that a man should be taken ill and die, and there are literally countless things which just happen like that, making up the sum of human life and experience, every one of which can be regarded as the common lot, the everyday experience; but here is something which, by the illumination of the Lord, has to be seen in another way - and another way which almost startles us.

It is that the sovereignty of God, moving toward that great object of His own glory in His Son, acts to make a man ill, to bring sickness upon a man; and providence stands back and lets that sickness take its course, until the man dies and is more than dead, and all the features of an earthly human tragedy are there, of bereavement, of sorrow and heartbreak. They are all there - and yet God is in this thing, involved and implicated by His own act in a most remarkable way, and it is made known that this thing was determined by God Himself with a tremendous object in view, the greatest object in the heart of God - His own glory.

More on David and the Lord's Lovingkindness

By Bob Hoekstra


      How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 36:7)
Lovingkindness is one of the terms in the Old Testament that has profound spiritual kinship with the term grace in the New Testament. Lovingkindness speaks of God's zealous love for His people. This love includes His mercy to hold back the judgment we deserve, as well as His goodness to pour out all that we need. David's heart for God's grace can be seen in the way he cherished God's lovingkindness. "How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!" In our present verses, David reveals why he greatly valued God's lovingkindness. It involves the far-reaching implications of God dealing with us on the basis of His lovingkindness.

After announcing his high estimation of lovingkindness, David begins to explain why it was so. "Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings." When people catch a glimpse of God's lovingkindness, they understand that it includes His desire to protect them. Thus, they draw near in faith to be sheltered by His loving care. "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by" (Psalm 57:1). Like a devoted bird guarding its young, the Lord displays His lovingkindness in keeping those who trust in Him.

Jesus expressed His desire to care for people in this intimate fashion, even though they might deserve the opposite. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34). David was one who was willing to be gathered under the loving wings of God's care. "Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who oppress me, From my deadly enemies who surround me" (Psalm 17:8-9). What joy this brings to those who flee to the Lord's lovingkindness. "Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice" (Psalm 63:7).

Dear Lord, forgive me for the times I have been unwilling to come to You for Your lovingkindness. I repent of those times when I neglected, or even refused, to humbly place my hope in Your protecting care. How foolish I was. Lord, every time I have come to You, joy has eventually filled my heart. Please nurture in me a heart that habitually relies on Your precious lovingkindness, Amen.

A MORAL PRONOUNCEMENT

By A.W. Tozer

      What is God saying to His human creation in our day and time?In brief, He is saying, "Jesus Christ is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"Why is there rejection? Why do men and women fail to listen?Because God's message in Jesus is a moral pronouncement. Men and women do not wish to be under the authority of the moral Word of God!


For centuries, God spoke in many ways. He inspired holy men to write portions of the message in a book. People do not like it so they try their best to avoid it because God has made it the final test of all morality, the final test of all Christian ethics.God, being one in His nature, is always able to say the same thing to everyone who hears Him. 


Christian believers must know that any understanding of the Word of God must come from the same Spirit who provided the inspiration!

Man's Fig-Leaves

Light and Truth: The Old Testament: Chapter 5 



By Horatius Bonar


      "They sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons." -- Genesis 3:7

THEY are alone, yet they are ashamed. They are in Paradise, yet they are ashamed. It is conscience that is making them blush. It not only makes cowards of them, but it works shame and confusion of face. They are ashamed of themselves; of their nakedness; of their recent doings. They cannot look one another in the face after their disobedience and recriminations against one another. They cannot look up to God now. Possibly too they shrink from being in view of the serpent who beguiled them. The feeling of happy innocence is gone.

They must be covered. This is their feeling, the dictate of conscience. The eye must not see them, either of God or man. The light must not shine on them; the eye of the sun must not look on them; and the fair flowers and trees of Paradise must not see their shame. They love darkness rather than light. Covering is what they seek,--covering from every eye. Thus, shame and guilt are inseparable. "I must be covered," is the sinner's first feeling,--from the eye of God and man, even from my own. They cannot look on me, nor I on them!

Thus far they are right. But now they go wrong. Their mistake was twofold: (1.) That they could cover themselves;

(2.) that they can be covered with materials from vegetable nature. Let us look at these.

I. Man thinks he can cover himself. He knows not the greatness of the evil; he does not calculate on the penetration of the all-seeing eye. He sets to work and makes himself a covering, and he says this will do. What sin is, or what the sinner needs, or what God requires, he has no idea of. Each sinner has his own way of covering himself; he weaves his own web, whatever may be the substance of which it is composed. He wishes to be his own coverer, the maker of his own raiment. He thinks he can do it himself. He has no idea that it is utterly beyond his power. He trusts to the skill of his own hands to provide the dress that shall hide his shame from the eye of God and man. He thinks it an easy thing to deal with shame, and fear, and conviction, and conscience. He will not believe that these can only be dealt with by God. This is the last thing that he will admit. He will try a thousand plans before accepting this. He will make and try on many kinds or sets of raiment before betaking himself to that which God has made. The unbelieving man's whole religious life is a series of plans and efforts for stitching a raiment for himself, with which to appear before God and before men; nay, with which he hopes to appear before the judgment-seat. It is with this man-made, this self-made clothing, this earth-made, or priest-made, or church-made religion, that he robes himself; with this he soothes conscience; with this he quiets fear; with this he removes the feeling of guilty shame. He can do all that is needful himself, or at the most with a little help from God.

II. Man thinks he can cover himself with leaves. He supposes that what will hide his shame from his own eye will hide it from God; that even such a frail covering as the foliage of the fig-tree will do. He has no thought of anything beyond this. The fig-leaf will do, he thinks. What more do I need? But he is mistaken; the fig-leaf will not do, broad and green as it may be. But why will it not do?

(1.) It is man's device, not God's. That which covers sin, and renders the sinner fit to draw near, must be of God, not of man. God only has the right, God only can, prescribe to man how he is to draw near. What then is ritualism but a religion of fig-leaves?

(2.) It is simply for the body, not the soul. It does not relieve the conscience, or satisfy the guilty spirit, or cover the whole man. It is utterly insufficient. It could not remove one fear, or quiet one pang of remorse, or make the man feel tranquil in the presence of God.

Pentecost is Loving Jesus by Hans R. Waldvogel

Pentecost is Loving Jesus by Hans R. Waldvogel Topic: Pentecost LISTEN HERE

Destiny Awaits - an anonymous author

We need to allow HIS GRACE to increase in our lives more and more each day... His grace is the royal blood that is rushing through our veins that enables us to be true kings and priests of His Kingdom!!

Unedited from the Heart of the Father all spoken between April 28 and May 5 2011.

God often speaks but never to this length or depth. Every spare moment during these days He would pour out His heart in words as I typed just trying to keep up. I would never have imagined it would have amounted to this many pages or words it is quite beyond me and written far greater than I could have possibly written in my wildest dreams (unfortunately my writing skills only limited this but the Lord by His mercy has made it clear despite my inability.)
I would not even feel to share this with anyone, because just like when a friend shares secrets deep in their hearts, when the Lord speaks we must treasure it and only share it as He tells us to. Only as His words were drawing to a close the Lord made it very clear this is a message that He desperately wants to speak to all His children. I have been praying and asking the Lord for His will to be done and He would do exactly what He wants with what HE has written it is His book and I want to take no credit for it whatsoever. I just want to get out of the way and decrease, so He can increase and be glorified.
I pray that He would be glorified and speak clearly to you about your destiny as His child. His Will be done in your life.
A month ago God miraculously spoke an entire book to me in eight days. As the Father spoke I sensed His urgency and longing for His children to awaken to who they are as children of God and wake up to the Eternal plan that God wants to accomplish through His children to fulfill His eternal plan and kingdom in this world and universe.

Unless you know who you are, where you came from and where you are going you will waste your life wandering aimlessly. Unless you know the destiny you have been created for you will be totally incapable of fulfilling it. This is the great tragedy of the Christian church, we do not know who we are, who our Father is and His Eternal Plan for His church and thus are unable to live the monumental destiny He has created us for.


As God spoke it really began to open my eyes up to our true identity as a child of the King of the Universe. What an unfathomable privelege and awe to call the King of the Universe my Holy Father. I pray through His words our Heavenly Father would continue to open our eyes more each day to simply be in awe of our most Awesome Holy Father.

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Unity, Not Uniformity

By Theodore Epp

      Philippians 2:1-5; Psalm 133


      The Christian life is not a stereotyped life composed of rules and regulations. It may involve rules and regulations, but the Christian life is essentially the presence of Christ in the believer. 


This is why Paul said, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. 


See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority" (Col. 2:6-10, NASB).


      It should also be remembered that the minds of different believers are not to be pressed into a single mold of thinking--this is not what is meant by being "likeminded" (Phil. 2:2). Rather, God imparts to us the matchless mastermind of Christ, so each believer will be a distinct person in himself. Believers will be likeminded inasmuch as they will seek to reach similar goals, but they will not each seek the same way, and they may not always agree as to how a particular goal can best be reached.


      "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" (Rom. 14:19).

God Is Love

By Andrew Murray

      God has no selfishness, God keeps nothing to Himself. God's nature is to be always giving. In the sun and the moon and the stars, in every flower you see it, in every bird in the air, in every fish, in the sea . 


God communicates life to His creatures. And the angels around His throne, the seraphim and cherumbim (sic) who are flames of fire -- whence have they their glory? It is because God is love, and He imparts to them of His brightness and His blessedness. And we, His redeemed children -- God delights to pour His love into us. And why? Because, as I said, God keeps nothing for Himself. From eternity God had His only begotten Son, and the Father gave Him all things, and nothing that God had was kept back. "God is love."


      One of the old Church fathers said that we cannot better understand the Trinity than as a revelation of divine love -- the Father, the loving One, the Fountain of love; the Son, the beloved one, the Reservoir of love, in whom the love was poured out; and the Spirit, the living love that united both and then overflowed into this world. The Spirit of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son is love. And when the Holy Spirit comes to us and to other men, will He be less a Spirit of love than He is in God? It cannot be; He cannot change His nature. The Spirit of God is love, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love."