Day: September 12, 2017

​Daily Spiritual Devotion

Daily Spiritual Devotion:

“Do you wish to know the root of why the

Pharisees opposed Jesus? Do you wish to

know the substance of the Pharisees? They

were full of fantasies about the Messiah.

What’s more, they believed only that the

Messiah would come, yet did not seek the

truth of life. And so, even today they still

await the Messiah, for they have no

knowledge of the way of life, and do not

know what the way of truth is. How, say you,

could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant

people gain God’s blessing? How could they

behold the Messiah? They opposed Jesus

because they did not know the direction of

the Holy Spirit’s work, because they did not

know the way of truth spoken by Jesus, and,

furthermore, because they did not understand

the Messiah. And since they had never seen

the Messiah, and had never been in the

company of the Messiah, they made the

mistake of paying empty tribute to the name

of the Messiah while opposing the substance

of the Messiah by any means. These

Pharisees in substance were stubborn,

arrogant, and did not obey the truth. The

principle of their belief in God is: No matter

how profound Your preaching, no matter how

high Your authority, You are not Christ

unless You are called the Messiah. ”

from “When You Behold the Spiritual Body of

Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew

Heaven and Earth”

​Steve Hammer

Steve Hammer

‘The believer is willing to do and suffer any

thing and every thing for Christ; none of

these things, as afflictions, bonds, and

imprisonment for Christ’s sake, move the

believer from Christ, and its faith and hope in

Him; he esteems reproach for Christ’s sake,

greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt,

and takes pleasure in persecutions and

distresses endured on His account; and even

reckons his own best things, his highest

attainments in knowledge and righteousness,

but loss and dung in comparison of the

excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus

his Lord, and of His righteousness, in which,

and in which only, he desires to be found’

John Gill, ‘A Body of Practical Divinity’

JoAnn N Alan

​J.C. Ryle

J.C. Ryle

The Blessedness of Christ’s Return

True Christians shall alone be found ready at the second advent. Washed in the blood of atonement, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, renewed by the Spirit, they shall meet their Lord with boldness, and sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, to go out no more.

They shall be with their Lord–with Him who loved them and gave Himself for them–with Him who bore with them, and carried them through their earthly pilgrimage–with Him, whom they loved truly and followed faithfully on earth, though with much weakness, and many a tear. Surely this also is a blessed prospect. ~ J.C. Ryle

Oswald Chambers 

Going Through Spiritual Confusion
September 12, 2017
Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask.” —Matthew 20:22
   
There are times in your spiritual life when there is confusion, and the way out of it is not simply to say that you should not be confused. It is not a matter of right and wrong, but a matter of God taking you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going through the spiritual confusion that you will come to the understanding of what God wants for you.
The Shrouding of His Friendship(see Luke 11:5-8). Jesus gave the illustration here of a man who appears not to care for his friend. He was saying, in effect, that is how the heavenly Father will appear to you at times. You will think that He is an unkind friend, but remember— He is not. The time will come when everything will be explained. There seems to be 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 fellowship and oneness. When God appears to be completely shrouded, will you hang on with confidence in Him?
The Shadow on His Fatherhood(see Luke 11:11-13). Jesus said that 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. “Everyone who asks receives…” (Luke 11:10). If all you see is a shadow on the face of the Father right now, hang on to the fact that He will ultimately give you clear understanding and will fully justify Himself in everything that He has allowed into your life.
The Strangeness of His Faithfulness(see Luke 18:1-8). “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Will He find the kind of faith that counts on Him in spite of the confusion? Stand firm in faith, believing that what Jesus said is true, although in the meantime you do not understand what God is doing. He has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you are asking of Him right now.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.  Conformed to His Image, 354 L
Bible in O

​Franklin Graham Warns World Needs to Prepare for Jesus Christ’s Return

Franklin Graham Warns World Needs to Prepare for Jesus Christ’s Return 
The numerous hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena affecting the world today should serve as a reminder that people need to be prepared for the return of Jesus Christ, said evangelist Franklin Graham. “Wildfires raging on the West Coast. Violent hurricanes, one after the other, ravaging everything in their paths, with one of the worst — Irma—bearing down on Florida. A magnitude 8.1 earthquake shook the southern parts of Mexico this week, and we even recently experienced a rare
solar eclipse,” Graham said in a Facebook post on Sunday. “The Bible says in Luke 21:25, ‘…there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves.’ In Matthew 24:7 it says, ‘For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.’ These are some of the Biblical signs before Christ’s return.

Streams in the Desert – September 12

<< Streams in the Desert, with Mrs. Charles Cowman
Streams in the Desert – September 12
2017Sep 12

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (S. of Sol. 8:5).
Some one gained a good lesson from a Southern prayer meeting. A brother asked the Lord for various blessings–as you and I do, and thanked the Lord for many already received–as you and I do; but he closed with this unusual petition: “And, O Lord, support us! Yes support us Lord on every leanin’ side!”
Have you any leaning sides? This humble man’s prayer pictures them in a new way and shows the Great Supporter in a new light also. He is always walking by the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm and steady the weak one on “every leanin’ side.”
“Child of My love, lean hard,

And let Me feel the pressure of thy care;

I know thy burden, child. I shaped it;

Poised it in Mine Own hand; made no proportion

In its weight to thine unaided strength,

For even as I laid it on, I said,

‘I shall be near, and while she leans on Me,

This burden shall be Mine, not hers;

So shall I keep My child within the circling arms

Of My Own love.’

Here lay it down, nor fear

To impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of worlds.

Yet closer come: Thou art not near enough.

I would embrace thy care;

So I might feel My child reposing on My breast.

Thou lovest Me? I knew it.

Doubt not then;

But Loving Me, lean hard.”

Gleaning from the Puritans .

Gleaning from the Puritans .

“Nothing so high that is above his

providence; nothing so low, that is beneath it;

nothing so large, but is bounded by it; nothing

so confused, but God can order it; nothing so

bad, but he can draw good out of it; nothing

so wisely plotted, but God can disappoint it.”

~Richard Sibbes (The Soul’s Conflict and

Victory Over Itself by Faith)

​Steve Hammer

Steve Hammer

DEEPER

Some fell upon stony places, where they had

NOT MUCH EARTH: and forthwith they

sprung up, because they had no deepness of

earth

Matthew 13:5

Shallow! It would seem from the teaching of

this parable that we have something to do

with the soil. The fruitful seed fell into “good

and honest hearts.” I suppose the shallow

people are the soil without much earth—those

who have no real purpose, are moved by a

tender appeal, a good sermon, a pathetic

melody, and at first it looks as if they would

amount to something; but not much earth—

no depth, no deep, honest purpose, no

earnest desire to know duty in order to do it.

LET US LOOK AFTER THE SOIL OF OUR

HEARTS.

When a Roman soldier was told by his guide

that if he insisted on taking a certain journey

it would probably be fatal, he answered, “It is

necessary for me to go; it is not necessary

for me to live.”

This was depth. When we are convicted

something like that we shall come to

something. The shallow nature lives in its

impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its

instincts, and very largely its surroundings.

The profound character looks beyond all

these, and moves steadily on, sailing past all

storms and clouds into the clear sunshine

which is always on the other side, and

waiting for the afterwards which always

brings the reversion of sorrow, seeming

defeat and failure.

When God has deepened us, then He can give

us His deeper truths, His profoundest secrets,

and His mightier trusts. Lord, lead me into

the depths of Thy life and save me from a

shallow experience!

On to broader fields of holy vision;

On to loftier heights of faith and love;

Onward, upward, apprehending wholly,

All for which He calls thee from above.

—A. B. Simpson

Where are you rooted?

What kind of soil are you rooted in?

How deep are your roots?

Do you have enough soil?

Are you bearing fruit? What fruit?

GO DEEPER IN THE WORD. THE WORD OF

GOD IS THE WISDOM OF GOD. THE WORD IS

GOD!

​Steve Hammer

Steve Hammer

“Isn’t it staggering when you think that one

sermon

on the day of Pentecost produced 3000

people?

And we had some cities yesterday where

3000

sermons were preached and nobody was

saved. And

it doesn’t even faze us.”

Leonard Ravenhill

Cindy Mock