Day: September 29, 2017

​Glad Tidings TabernacleUnshakable FaithDavid Wilkerson

Glad Tidings Tabernacle

Unshakable Faith

David Wilkerson

“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward” (Hebrews 10:35). If you are a Christian, you are in a fierce war. In fact, you’re in a life-and-death battle for your faith. Satan is determined to shipwreck and destroy the faith of all of God’s elect. And the stronger your faith, the greater will be his attack against it.

You see, unshakable faith in the Lord causes hell to rage. Nothing poses a greater threat to Satan’s kingdom than a Christian who is immovable in faith. Why? Because it is by faith and its released power that Satan’s kingdom is subdued. By faith, righteousness is born and demonic fires are quenched. God’s promises are obtained and the mouths of lions are shut.

The apostle Peter came under a ferocious attack against his faith. His trust in Jesus so enraged hell that Satan asked permission to sift him to see if he would stand. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32).

God has given us a powerful weapon to use against Satan’s attacks on our faith. We are not to try to figure everything out. Rather, we are to set our eyes on “the great cloud of witnesses” already in glory who have made it through with their faith intact. (Hebrews 12:1).

What a picture. This verse depicts an army of victorious saints from every era, beholding us watchfully like a crowd in the bleachers. They’re wearing crowns of righteousness and waving palms as they cheer us on in our race: “Run with patience! We fought to the death and didn’t fall. God kept us, and our faith prevailed. The truth works: We won! We are overcomers. So you keep on. You can overcome in hard times.”

4 hrs ·

J.C. Ryle

J.C. Ryle

Persevering Towards Heaven

“Our Lord tells us that true Christians must make up their minds regarding trouble in this world. Whether we are ministers or hearers, whether we teach or are taught, it makes little difference. We must carry ‘a cross.’ We must be content to lose even life itself for Christ’s sake. We must submit to the loss of man’s favor, we must endure hardships, we must deny ourselves in many things, or we shall never reach heaven at last. So long as the world, the devil and our own hearts are what they are, these things must be so.” ~ J.C. Ryle

Oswald Chambers 

The Awareness of the CallBy Oswald Chambers
…for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16
We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— “I chose you…” (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.
If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.
If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.
   
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
When you are joyful, be joyful; when you are sad, be sad. If God has given you a sweet cup, don’t make it bitter; and if He has given you a bitter cup, don’t try and make it sweet; take things as they come.  Shade of His Hand, 1226 L

​Streams in the Desert – September 292017Sep 29

Streams in the Desert – September 29
2017Sep 29
I will give myself unto prayer (Ps. 109:4).
We are often in a religious hurry in ourdevotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in his closet?
Whitefield says, “Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer.” “Fall upon your knees and grow there,” is the language of another, who knew whereof he affirmed.
It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.

–The Still Hour
‘Come, come,’ He saith, ‘O soul oppressed and weary,

Come to the shadows of my desert rest;

Come walk with Me far from life’s babbling discords,

And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast

​Glad Tidings TabernacleStay in the Race!by David Wilkerson

Glad Tidings Tabernacle

Stay in the Race!

by David Wilkerson

Your ongoing trial may involve physical suffering, unemployment, children who rebel, faithless friends, mental distress, turmoil or pain. As you endure day after day, Satan will whisper to you as he did to Job: “The righteous don’t suffer. If God heard you — if he saved you and his promises are true — you should have been rescued immediately. Where is your God? Is this what faith gets you?” Beloved, do not cast your faith aside! Satan is a liar. You are enduring hardship because God loves you, because he cares. Think about it: You asked the Lord to make you more like him. Only he knows what that will require. He knows your suffering, and he won’t let you be destroyed by it. In fact, he knows just when to make a way of escape for you. He won’t act until that appointed time, and “will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Be assured, God has everything under control. The pain, the lingering sickness, the prayers that seem to go unanswered — he knows all about them. And he knows why he hasn’t lifted your trial before now. As happened with Paul, he is using the “thorn in your flesh” to work toward your blessing. Indeed, the very thing you want so much — the answer you believe is so necessary — might be something God knows is not best for you. If he ultimately says, “No,” you know he is preserving your soul and answering you in a much better way.

Through it all, the great cloud of witnesses urges you, “Continue fighting the battle with faith. Stay in the race!”

Consider this powerful word from the author of Hebrews: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry (Hebrews 10:35-37).

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​Moses Niwe

Moses Niwe

***The less you think of yourselves — the

more will you esteem Christ!***

(Thomas Guthrie)

I wish you to think little, very little of

yourselves. Why?

Because the less you think of yourselves —

the more will you esteem Christ.

Because the humbler you are in your own

eyes — the higher you will stand in God’s

eyes.

The guest, who, coming modestly in, takes

the lowest place at the table — is called up

to the seat of honor.

None are so sure to lie in Jesus’ bosom — as

those who have been lying lowest at Jesus’

feet.

Hence, brought by grace to see sin’s vileness,

and to feel its exceeding evil . . .

the holiest men — have always been the

humblest,

the strongest men — have always felt the

weakest in themselves,

the best men — have always thought the

worst of themselves.

David, the man after God’s own heart, said, “I

was as a beast before You!”

Job, the most remarkable character of his

own or any age for piety and uprightness,

said, as he shrank from his own image, “I

abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes!”

And Paul, though the greatest of all the

apostles, much too great as well as honest,

to fish for compliments and depreciate

himself that others might praise him — spoke

of himself not as the least, but as less than

the least, of all saints.

The tree grows best skyward, which grows

most downward. Just so, the lower the saint

grows in humility — the higher he grows in

holiness. The soaring corresponds to the

sinking.

The humble man’s heartfelt prayer shall be,

“O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift

up my face to You! I am glad to enter

Heaven at the back of the wicked Manasseh,

or the immoral woman, or the thief of the

cross. God be merciful to me a sinner!”

~~~~~~~

*****Come to Christ as Mary Magdalene did!

****

(Jonathan Edwards, “Directions How to

Conduct Yourself in Your Christian Course”)

“There was a woman who was a notorious

sinner in that city.

When she learned that Jesus was eating at

the Pharisee’s

home, she took an alabaster jar of perfume

and knelt at His

feet behind Him. She was crying and began

to wash His feet

with her tears and dry them with her hair.

Then she kissed

His feet over and over again, anointing them

constantly

with the perfume.” (Luke 7:37-38)

When you engage in the duty of prayer, or

come to the Lord’s

supper, or attend any other duty of divine

worship–come to

Christ as Mary Magdalene did! Come, and

cast yourself at

His feet, and kiss them, and pour forth upon

Him the sweet

perfumed ointment of divine love, out of a

pure and broken

heart, as she poured the precious perfume

out of her pure

broken alabaster jar!

~~~~~||

****If she has exceeded some of us in the

heinousness of her sin****

(Charles Spurgeon)

“As she stood behind Him at His feet

weeping, she began to wet His feet with her

tears.

Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed

them and poured perfume on them!” Luke

7:38

O that our eyes were as ready with tears of

repentance as were hers! O that our hearts

were as full of love as hers and our hands as

ready to serve the forgiving Lord! If she has

exceeded some of us in the heinousness of

her sin–yet she has exceeded all of us in the

fervency of her affection!

​Paula MailletSeptember 28

Paula Maillet

September 28

The Cross Is An Offense

“And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision,

why do I still suffer persecution?

Then the offense of the cross has ceased.” Galatians 5:11

What Paul is saying here is that if he were to preach the Judaic law, he wouldn’t have persecution, he’d be accepted by the religious leaders. It’s the Cross that is an offense, preaching the Cross of Christ is offensive. He could easily escape persecution by simply following the status quo. He could preach any religious thing and be honored for it — EXCEPT preaching the Cross.

And so it is today. As long as you preach or teach commonly-held tenets of good works and charity, you’ll be honored. Aren’t you wonderful for all the good things you do! But if you bring in the Cross of Christ with all that that means, you WILL be persecuted, because the Gospel IS an offense to all other religionists. So why not just go along and follow the status quo, being careful not to offend anyone?

Because the Cross of Christ is God’s one and only provision for the salvation of mankind. It is exclusive, and that’s where the offense lies. Jesus said that there is NO OTHER way.

“Jesus said to him:

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT through me.”

John 14:6 Choose ye this day whom you will serve: the tolerance and acceptance the masses demand, or the narrow and exclusive way of the only true God.

MORE DEVOTIONALS:

​Steve Hammer

Steve Hammer

“Repentance grows as faith grows. Do not

make any mistake about it; repentance is

not a thing of days and weeks, a temporary

penance to be got over as fast as possible!

No; it is the grace of a lifetime, like faith

itself. God’s little children repent, and so do

the young men and the fathers. Repentance

is the inseparable companion of faith.”

― Charles H. Spurgeon

JoAnn N Alan

​Glad Tidings TabernacleFaithfulness in the Stormby David Wilkerson

Glad Tidings Tabernacle

Faithfulness in the Storm

by David Wilkerson

Some of you reading this message are in the storm of your life.

Jesus’ disciples endured pounding waves in a storm-tossed boat while their Master lay fast asleep. Finally, as the storm threatened to overwhelm the boat, they cried out to Jesus, accusing him of not caring about their fate. “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Jesus calmed the storm but was incredulous at his disciples’ lack of faith. He asked, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (4:40).

Right now you may be facing a terrible storm in life: money problems, marriage problems, job troubles, enemies coming at you like pounding waves. A sea of trouble rages inside you, but the Lord seems to be sleeping through it all. Tell me, has your faith been sapped? Is it slowly ebbing away with each new disappointment? Perhaps you are crying out in your heart, “God, don’t you care? Will you let me go down in this storm?”

It is for just such a time that Jesus spoke these awesome words: “Shall God not avenge (protect) His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7-8).

Note Jesus’ question here: Will he find faith in his people as they endure days of darkness and oppression? In recent years I have wondered whether Jesus would ask such a question today. For decades multitudes flocked to churches. But what Jesus is really asking is, “Will the faith of these hold out when the shaking storms come?” Our troubles can be heaped so high, and the shaking of nations can come so swiftly, that some will lose hope and give up. I ask you: Will Jesus find you faithful in your hour of storm?

4 hrs · Publi