Stillness Before The Lord
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 31, 2011
“The life around us is preeminently one of hurry and haste. Years are crowded into months and weeks into days. This feverish pace threatens the spiritual life. The rushing stream has already entered our churches and stirred their quiet pools. Meetings crowd on meetings. The same energetic people are found at them all and engaged in many good works besides.
We must make time to be alone with God. The closet and the shut door are indispensable. We must escape the din of the world to become accustomed to the accents of the still, small voice. Like David, we must sit before the Lord. Sit, wait, listen, be still. Only during such moments will the best spiritual gifts loom on our vision and we will have grace to receive them. It is impossible to rush into God’s presence, catch up anything we fancy, and run off with it. To attempt this will end in mere delusion and disappointment. God’s best cannot be ours apart from patient waiting in His holy presence.”
The Best of F. B. Meyer, 78
(1847-1929)
~~~
“When asked what his plans were for the next day, Martin Luther replied, ‘Work, work from early until late. In fact, I have so much to be done that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.’”
Nick Harrison
Magnificent Prayer, 53
~~~
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Mark 1:35 (ESV)
~~~
Those who thirst for the Lord find adequate time to be alone with Him because they cannot live without Him.
Email This Post
God Owns All
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 27, 2011
‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’
Job 1:21 (ESV)
~~~
“Earthly comforts are loaned. They are not gifts, for all that we possess is God’s property. He has only lent them, and what he lends He has a right to take. We hold possessions and friends on a lease that can be terminated at the Supreme Owner’s option. Therefore, do not complain when God takes His own. In a world where thorns and briars grow, it is natural that some sharp points will pierce you.
The world swarms with thieves, deceivers, and slanderers, with losses in business, crosses in our expectations, false or fickle friends, and with sickness and death. Little wonder our joys are stolen. Our Master warns that our habitation is not theft-proof. ‘Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal’ (Matt. 6:19).
Beloved, because these calamities may be expected, let us be prepared. Hold all things loosely. Hold them as though you did not have them. Look at them as fleeting; never expect them to remain. Never make mortal things your gods. If you do, your heart will be broken when they are taken, and you will cry with Micah, ‘You have taken away my gods which I made’ (Judg. 18:24).”
C. H. Spurgeon
Beside Still Waters, 22
Roy H. Clarke, Editor
~~~
Better to have our hands empty, and keep every blessing we enjoy on God’s altar, than to have it snatched from our unwilling heart. If we have settled it in our heart that all our blessings are His to do with as He pleases, then we can let any go with worship in our heart. We will experience the pain of loss, but we will also know the joy of freely giving to Him whom we love.
Email This Post
Walking In The Spirit
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 24, 2011
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16 (ESV)
~~~
“What is it to walk in the Spirit?
Generally, it may be said, it is to maintain the habit of dependence upon the Holy Ghost for our entire life—spirit, soul and body. We know what it is at times to enjoy His conscious presence. We live in the Spirit, we have felt the touch of His quickening life, now let us walk in the Spirit….
To walk in the Spirit is to recognize the Spirit as present and abiding in us. How often, after we have asked His presence, we treat Him as if He had deceived us, and cry to Him as if He were afar off! Let us recognize Him, as having come; and address Him as a present and indwelling friend. He will always meet our recognition, and speak to us as the ancient presence, not from the mount, or the pillar of fire, but from the tabernacle, and from the holy of holies in our inmost heart.
It means to trust Him and count upon Him in the emergencies of life, to regard Him as one who has undertaken our cause and expects to be called upon in every time of need, and who will unfailingly be found faithful and all-sufficient in every crisis. The very name Paraclete means one that we can always call upon and find at our side. We must trust the Holy Spirit, and expect Him to respond to our need as implicitly as we expect the air to answer the opening of our lungs, and the sunrise to meet us in the morning. And yet how many treat the Holy Spirit as if He were a capricious and most unreliable friend! How many of our prayers are despairing groans or scolding reflections on His love and faithfulness!”
A. B. Simpson
Walking In The Spirit, 12-13
~~~
Salvation from first to last is by faith (Romans 1:17). Do you believe with all your heart what God says? Do you actively trust Him to keep His Word? When your conscience is clear, you can rely completely upon His Spirit within your inner being to be all you need.
Email This Post
Visitations By God
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 20, 2011
Jonathan Edwards wrote a tribute to his bride-to-be, Sarah Pierrepont. He was eighteen and she was thirteen (1721 A.D.).
~~~
“They say [he wrote] there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that Great Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this Great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him—that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular piety in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this Great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after this Great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have some one invisible always conversing with her.”
C. Samuel Storms
The Grandeur of God, 27-28
~~~
The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me, and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father. And I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him—I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to Him.
John 14:21 (Amplified Bible)
Email This Post
Brokenness Glorifies God
Posted by jerrywhite on Jan 17, 2011
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:17 (ESV)
~~~
“Maybe you have thought of the glory that Christ receives from brilliant genius and profound talent, from splendid gifts and glowing zeal, from costly sacrifices, and even extensive usefulness. But have you ever thought of the glory, the far greater, richer glory, that flows to Him from a contrite spirit, a broken heart, a lowly mind, a humble walk; from the tear of godly repentance that falls when seen by no human eye, and the sigh of godly sorrow that is breathed when heard by no human ear; from the abhorrence of sin and loathing of self, the deep sense of vileness, poverty, and infirmity that takes you to Jesus with the prayer, ‘Lord, here I am. I have brought to Thee my rebellious will, my wandering heart, my worldly affections, my peculiar infirmity, my besetting and constantly overpowering sin. Receive me graciously; put forth the mighty power of Thy grace in my soul, subdue all, rule all, and subjugate all to Thyself. Will it not be for Thy glory and the glory of Thy great name if this powerful sin were nailed to Thy cross; if this temper so sensitive, this heart so impure, these affections so truant, this mind so dark, these desires so earthly, these pursuits so carnal, and these aims so selfish, were all entirely renewed by Thy Spirit, sanctified by Thy grace, and made each to reflect Thine image? Yes, Lord, it would be for Thy glory, through time and through eternity.’”
Octavius Winslow
Morning Thoughts, 451-452
~~~
“I will not love a world that crucified him, neither cherish nor endure the sin that put Him to grief, nor suffer Him to be wounded by others.”
The Valley Of Vision, 115
Edited by Arthur Bennett
Email This Post
