From “Morning Thoughts” by Winslow

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24

IF, then, the first implantation of the divine life in the soul is sudden; the advance of that work is in most cases gradual. Let this be an encouragement to any who are writing hard and bitter things against themselves in consequence of their little progress. The growth of divine knowledge in the soul is often slow-the work of much time and of protracted discipline. Look at the eleven disciples-what slow, tardy scholars were they, even though taught immediately from the lips of Jesus; and “who teaches like Him?” They drank their knowledge from the very Fountain. They received their light directly from the Sun itself. And yet, with all these superior advantages-the personal ministry, instructions, miracles, and example of our dear Lord-how slow of understanding were they to comprehend, and how “slow of heart to believe,” all that He so laboriously, clearly, and patiently taught them! Yes, the advance of the soul in the divine life, its knowledge of sin, of the hidden evil, the heart’s deep treachery and intricate windings, Satan’s subtlety, the glory of the gospel, the preciousness of Christ, and its own interest in the great salvation, is not the work of a day, nor of a year, but of many days, yes, many years of deep ploughing, long and often painful discipline, of “windy storm and tempest.”

But this life in the soul is not less real, nor less divine, because its growth is slow and gradual: it may be small and feeble in its degree, yet, in its nature, it is the life that never dies. How many of the Lord’s beloved ones, the children of godly parents, brought up in the ways of God, are at a loss, in reviewing the map of their pilgrimage, to remember the starting-point of their spiritual life. They well know that they left the city of destruction-that by a strong and a mighty arm they were brought out of Egypt; but so gently, so imperceptibly, so softly, and so gradually were they led-“first a thought, then a desire, then a prayer”-that they could no more discover when the first dawning of divine life took place in their soul, than they could tell the instant when natural light first broke upon chaos. Still it is real. It is no fancy that he has inherited an evil principle in the heart; it is no fancy that that principle grace has subdued. It is no fancy that he was once a child of darkness; it is no fancy that he is now a child of light. He may mourn in secret over his little advance, his tardy progress, his weak faith, his small grace, his strong corruption, his many infirmities, his startings aside like “a broken bow,” yet he can say, “Though I am the ‘chief of sinners,’ and the ‘least of all saints’-though I see within so much to abase me, and without so much to mourn over, yet this ‘one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.’ I see that which I never saw before-a hatefulness in sin, and a beauty in holiness; I see a vileness and emptiness in myself, and a preciousness and fullness in Jesus.” Do not forget, then, dear reader, that feeble grace is yet real grace. If it but “hungers and thirsts,” if it “touches but the hem,” it shall be saved.

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From “The Selected Writings of Joseph Philpot”

“And this is my prayer — that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight (margin, sense).”Php_1:9 Love is especially the effect of knowledge; and love we know is a fruit of the blessed Spirit. As then the Lord the Spirit is pleased to open up the precious truth of God to the soul, love embraces what the Holy Spirit reveals. Thus there is a knowledge of the only true God by the teaching of the Spirit. But our love is to abound not only in knowledge, which is the foundation of it, because if there is no knowledge of the Lord there can be no love to the Lord or his people, but also in all feeling, in all sense, in all experience.

Spiritual knowledge, therefore, and experimental feeling are the two nourishers of Christian love; the two streams, as it were, that run side by side out of the very throne of the most High, and meet and melt into that boundless river, love. And it is by this union of knowledge and experience, of divine light and heavenly life, of the Spirit’s teaching and the Spirit’s testimony, of truth in the understanding and of feeling in the affections, that love is maintained in the soul, and flows out towards the Lord and his people.

This spiritual knowledge differs very widely from carnal, intellectual, barren head knowledge. The one is a flowing river, the other a stagnant pool; the one fertilizes the heart, and makes it fruitful in every good word and work; the other leaves it a barren swamp, in which creeps and crawls every hideous thing, and out of which ever rise miasma, disease, and death. Thus the union of knowledge and experience as sustaining love distinguishes the work of the Spirit from every imitation of it, and where there is the true work of the Spirit there will be gracious knowledge and experimental feeling.

This, then, is the peculiar blessedness of living experience that it goes hand in hand with gracious knowledge to sustain heavenly love; and that Christ is the end and object of both; the end and object of all saving knowledge, and the end and object of all true experience; for in this as in everything else he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

A Thought on The Whole Truth

I read a few statements tonight that said, “Sadly, many people who assume they are saved are lost.”  Here’s another one, “Verbally professing that Jesus is Lord is necessary, but it is meaningless apart from a faith commitment to follow Him.”  And let’s finish off with, “The only way to know Jesus personally is to yield our hearts to Him by faith, that is, to make Him Lord of our lives.  Anything less is just religious ritual and activity.”

These were just three of the statements I read again tonight, and taught in a Sunday School lesson just a while back.  By themselves they were enough to get my attention, and in truth just those three statements can provide me with more than enough to meditate on for a long time.  How about you?

Are these statements true?  Sadly, the truth is that the majority of people reading this probably don’t know for sure if you believe what the statistics say about people and their knowledge of God’s Word.  And, you see that’s the problem.  A lot of people say a lot of things, and they write a lot of things, too.  How do you know that any of them are true?

There’s only one real way to know, and that’s to search it out in not what others publish about God’s Word, but IN God’s Word.  Yet, even in this, we must be careful because people like to use what are called “proof texts” which are exactly what they’re called, text that can be used to make a particular point.  Many, many people quote Scripture in this way, and in and of itself there’s nothing wrong with quoting Scripture, but just remember that the devil can quote Scripture with the best of them, and like him, there are people in this world who use it to mislead others every bit as much and as well as he does.

Please remember that even the best, most well-intentioned, most literate, and most educated people on earth can be wrong, and that’s why we need to do more than just trust what someone tells us.  We need to make sure by doing the work to find out if we’re being told the truth.

And remember this, too, getting a part and parcel of truth is as much a blatant lie as a lie.  People teach God is a God of Love and so He is, but He is also a God of Justice, Holiness, and Perfection.  You’ve heard the phrase “The truth and the WHOLE truth,” and there’s only way to know the difference.

 

From “Rylisms” by James Ryle

On Assignment by Jesus

“I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah” (1 Peter 1:1 The Message).
Delightful thing this is, to be on assignment by Jesus. The word means to appoint a particular person to a specific use. Os Guinness wrote, “Our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are on earth. All other standards of success – wealth, power, position, knowledge, friendships – grow tiny and hollow if we do not satisfy this deeper longing.”

Deep in every heart is the God-planted desire to live a life that makes a difference. Many spend their lives looking for that one things to which they can give their all. Somehow we human beings are never happier than when we are expressing the deepest gifts that are truly us. The truest way to fully express those gifts is by being on assignment by Jesus.

How wonderful it is to be able to say, “I am on assignment by Jesus.” All my talents, gifts, abilities, experiences, discoveries, longings, dreams, thoughts, and labors are focused on doing His bidding at this time, in this place, for this reason.

May the grace of God so work in your life to bring you to the place of your assignment!

From “Morning and Evening” by C. H. Spurgeon

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light.” – Joh_1:7

As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is the model which it set before us, for the Saviour himself said, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;” and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, “We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality.” We are to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in his holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.

My Prayer to the Father, August 11, 2012

Heavenly Father
I come before You, Father
Knowing and acknowledging
That You are the Supreme God;
The Eternal God.
You, Father are the Creator
And the Sustainer of all Life.
You, Father are the Author of
Every good and pleasing thing
Which we have ever known,
Now know,
And will know in
Your Eternal Kingdom.

Heavenly Father
It is with gladness of heart that
I come before Your throne now.
Glad, Father, not because of
Anything I have done
Or will do,
But because of what
You have done for me.
You, Father have adopted me,
Not because of who I am,
But because of who
Your Son, Jesus, is.

Heavenly Father
It is because I know and feel
This gladness of heart
That I come to You with
My request tonight.
Father I ask You to
Break my heart.
Break my heart, and
Help me to see with Your eyes.
So that I might
Be able to see this world
I live in with all it’s inhabitants
In the way that You do.
Help me to see
As You see, and to feel
The pain You must feel
Seeing Your people
In the midst of their sin.
Break my heart, Father,
So that I might cry tears,
And pray,
And act,
And do all I can to
Show them
What becomes of
Their sinfulness.

Heavenly Father
Do not let me stand idly by
And watch, and
Not say a word, or
Lift a hand
When I see someone
In error.
Let me not be afraid
To raise my voice,
To use my feet and hands,
My heart and mind,
To at all times
And in all places
Proclaim the name of
Jesus Christ,
Lord of lords,
And King of kings
To all who face me,
And stand against me.

Heavenly Father
Let me declare Your love
In the face of anger;
Let me declare
Your mercy and compassion
On those undeserving;
Let me declare
Your strength and courage
In the face of adversity;
Let me declare
In each and every situation
To every single person
I meet
No matter what
They do or say
What You have given to me.

Heavenly Father
Please, don’t just break
My heart.
Break the hearts of
All Your children;
Break the heart of
Every child who calls upon
Your son, Jesus, and
Who places their
Faith and trust in Him.
Father, please make them see
That by offering
excuses for others,
By justifying what is evil,
By not confronting what is false,
By not standing for Your truth
That they are encouraging
And even promoting
The things that
Break Your heart.

Heavenly Father
Let me be broken hearted;
Let me be spurred to action
To involvement
To making a difference
To doing all
You call upon all Your children
To do.
Let me truly take up my cross
And follow after Him
Who took my sins
Upon Himself.
Let me, Father, not do less
Than He.

In Jesus name, I pray.
Amen.

A Thought on Feeling and Knowing

A friend of mine said I should write more of my own material instead of sharing that of others.  That’s not easy for  me to do.  I’m trying though.  Something else that is not easy for me to do is accepting the love of others, and believing that others can love me just for me.  That’s hard to admit too.  I know that I’m not the only one who suffers from low esteem if that’s what you want to call it.  Not feeling good about oneself is a condition that I know many people share with me.  The causes may vary as to what brought our condition on, but the result is the same.  In truth, if I were to live my life based solely on what I feel I would probably not be long for this world.  There are a good many moments in my life when I don’t feel like I’m loved or have much worth.  My worth has always come from what I do, not from who I am.  Doing has always been much easier for me than being.  If you’ve read my about page, or been following me for awhile you know something of my story.  There’s a lot more to tell, but telling isn’t easy, and sometimes I don’t.  The telling of certain things brings back things that are just too painful to bear.  In case you don’t know, I’m one of those who partially subscribe to the theory that it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie.  Ask me how that fits into my being a Christian, and all I can tell you is that I’m working on it, and therein may be a part of the problem.

It’s hard to go from an “earning” mentality to an “allowing” and “receiving”  mentality.  I was blessed as a child in that I had two people who loved me so much I could not have asked for anything more from them.  They loved me unconditionally.  Then I had someone else who could not, would not, and wouldn’t you know that was the one person I wanted more than anything to love me.  It never happened.  It didn’t happen then, and I know now that it will never happen…..  It’s one thing to know something intellectually, to know it’s truth, to be able to see the evidence, to be able to weigh its’ impact on one’s life, but it’s quite another to know something in your heart, to feel it, to be able to grasp it and hold on to it, to be able to count on it, and love it, and know it without having a single thought that it exists.  It’s just there.

I’ve seen that in other people.  I know that people write songs, poems, and books about it.  I’ve seen people act silly over it.  I know that other people feel it.  It!  You know the great “it” that makes the world go round and round and round.  Of course, the “it” I’m referring to is the great thing we call “love.”   In truth,  I’ve always been a little confused when it comes to love being a feeling and love being a decision.  The feeling part of love hasn’t worked out so well for me, but over the last 13 years or so it’s improved.  The decision part has been a lot better, but there have been struggles there, too.

There are times when I (quote) “feel” that I’m damaged beyond repair.  Funny thing for a Christian to say, I know.  You should try thinking it, and dealing with the conflicting thoughts and emotions that come with it.   There have been times when I’ve thought that I’m an emotional cripple, unable to love, or experience love in the traditional sense.  In some ways, I still “feel” that way.

I haven’t gotten over that need to do, to try, to work, to earn everything I have and want.  Try living with that in the midst of your walk with Christ.  Knowing on one hand that I can’t “work” or “earn” my salvation, and yet, on the other, not being able to “feel” that I don’t need to in order to have it.  When it comes right down to it, I struggle mightily in the faith department, having faith that God can even love someone like me, after all the things I’ve done.  And, don’t think for a minute, that I  haven’t done some “awful” and “horrible” things because I have….

This is where “feeling” and “knowing” become very important.  If I had to “feel” like I’m saved in order to be saved, I’d be lost for sure, and there would be no hope.  That’s just the truth.  If I had to depend on what I felt I would not be here.  Thank God, He doesn’t say a single word about “feeling” in relation to salvation.  Unfortunately, that does not let me completely off the hook though in my life’s journey and walk with my Lord and Savior.  I still struggle with believing that God loves me, still struggle in thinking that I’m deserving of His love.  Notice I said deserving of His love, and not deserve His love.  I don’t nor does anyone deserve God’s love, but when we believe and have faith in the fact that Christ died for our sins and took our place on the cross, that, and only that, makes us deserving of God’s love.

Do I believe in God?  Absolutely.  Do I believe His son, Jesus Christ, took my sins upon himself and died on the cross for my sins?  Absolutely.  Do I believe that God loves me?  Yes, I believe that.  Do I feel like God loves me?  Do I feel like Jesus Christ could love me enough to die for me?  Do I feel like the “Holy Spirit” guides my life?  Well…..  Thank God, I don’t have to rely on my feelings.

From “Faith’s Checkbook” by C. H. Spurgeon

 

December 28

     If there’s one thing we Christians should never have to worry about or concern ourselves with it’s our security in our Lord’s love and provision for us.  God is above all things trustworthy, and His word can be depended on.  When He says He will never leave us or forsake us He means it.  You can have 100% assurance that He will do all that He says.  Count on it.

“Absolute Assurance ”

 

Heb_13:5

Several times in the Scriptures the LORD hath said this. He has often repeated it to make our assurance doubly sure. Let us never harbor a doubt about it. In itself the promise is specially emphatic. In the Greek it has five negatives, each one definitely shutting out the possibility of the LORD’s ever leaving one of His people so that he can justly feel forsaken of his God. This priceless Scripture does not promise us exemption from trouble, but it does secure us against desertion. We may be called to traverse strange ways, but we shall always have our LORD’s company, assistance, and provision. We need not covet money, for we shall always have our God, and God is better than gold; His favor is better than fortune.

We ought surely to be content with such things as we have, for he who has God has more than all the world besides. What can we have beyond the Infinite? What more can we desire than almighty Goodness.

Come, my heart; if God says He will never leave thee nor forsake thee, be thou much in prayer for grace that thou mayest never leave thy LORD, nor even for a moment forsake His ways.

From the “Writings of A.W. Pink”

      In a world full of many supposed truths there is only one.

 

What is Truth?

 

“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?”

Joh_18:37-38

What is Truth?

 

“What is Truth?”

asked Pilate. Men have asked this question from generation to generation without hope of an answer, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

2Ti_3:7

Jesus Christ is the truth, but men do not except Him as truth, and therefore continue in darkness. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Joh_14:6

 

The Truth comes to a man only through the Holy Spirit, no man can of himself find it out. “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.”

1Jn_5:6. “And when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:“ Joh_16:13

 

Truth must be sought after, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Mat_7:7-8

Truth can be attained, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Joh_8:31-32

 

Truth is a hard way to follow, therefore few men go on to perfection. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Mat_7:13-14

Truth is infinite, it is deeper than you know. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Rom_11:33-36

A warning for those who would reject truth, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Who changed the truth of God into a lie…”

Rom_1:18; Rom_1:25. “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth…” 2Th_2:12. “…men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth…” 1Ti_6:5

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A Thought on . . . .

     So what is tonight’s subject?  It’s on the most profound, least understood, most controversial, most misinterpreted, most ill-used, most beautiful and thought-provoking issue of all time.  It has spurred more disgust, more argument, more disdain, more discussion, more thought, more hate, and more love than any other know entity.  Nations have risen, fallen, transformed, and died because of it.  It has led some to great prosperity, and led others to great poverty.  It’s influence has been world-wide, and none of us have escaped its influence.  Throughout history it’s been burned, banned, shunned, denied, and still it persists and it’s voice echos through the corridors of history as strongly as ever it first did when man first embraced it, and from that first man, it has always been embraced by someone who has loved it and cherished it.  Never has it not been loved, never has it not been sought, never has it been ignored, and I can say with full confidence that it shall never not be relevant. 

     It’s has united, divided and separated more people, spurred and spurned both the great and the small, the weak and the strong, the wise and the ignorant, the humble and the arrogant.  Nothing, since its inception, not one thing, not one person, has not in some way been touched and influenced by it.  If you live today, in this country (America), or any modern country, you have been touched by it – though it’s touch may have been as light as down – you have felt it’s influence though you may not have recognized it for what it was.

     So what do you think it is?  As you answer this question, I ask you to hesitate for just a second, and ask this question of yourself first: why has it been what it is.  Why has it endured when everything else, everything else, is subject to decay, destruction, and ultimate death, this one thing has prevailed; has continued to thrive in spite of the war against it, that continues to quietly stand in the face of the warriors against it and laugh; that continues to stand in front of those who have embraced it, and shields them from every dark and evil flight of arrow that tries to penetrate the armor of those who wear it.

     The greatest of all men, both the common and the uncommon, the educated and the illiterate, have been held sway by its beauty, have been captivated and captured by it, and have been held the most loving prisoner because of it.  No man, nor woman, nor child, apart from it has ever known their true worth, their role, and their duty; nor their destination without it.  No guru, college professor, politician, media mogul, or religious leader can compare, compete, or conquer the one it embraces –  for you see – the one who holds it most dearly in his or her heart is held by it in return.

     You must be careful in its handling, and in your approach to it, for it above all other things can condemn you as nothing else can, and yet for those who approach it with the right heart, who seek its revelation as the most precious of all jewels, and accept its value as beyond price nothing will ever hold more importance for you.

     What is it?  It’s the Word of God; The Holy Bible