From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Daily devotions for 04-27-2004 and 04-28-2004:
Morning: Make Use of God
"God, even our own God." --Psalm 67:6
It is strange how little use we make of the
spiritual blessings which God gives us, but it is
stranger still how
little use we make of God Himself. Though He is
"our own God," we apply ourselves but little to
Him, and ask but little of Him. How seldom do we
ask counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often
do we go about our business, without seeking His
guidance! In our troubles how constantly do we
strive to bear our burdens ourselves, instead of
casting them upon the Lord, that He may
sustain us! This is not because we may not, for
the Lord seems to say, "I am thine, soul, come
and make use of me as thou wilt; thou mayst
freely come to my store, and the oftener the more
welcome." It is our own fault if we make not free
with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast
such a friend, and He invites thee, draw from Him
daily. Never want whilst thou hast a
God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou
hast God to help thee; go to thy treasure and
take whatever thou needest--there is all that
thou canst want. Learn the divine skill of making
God all things to thee. He can supply thee with
all, or, better still, He can be to thee instead
of all. Let me urge thee, then, to make use of
thy God. Make use of Him in prayer. Go to Him
often, because He is thy God. O, wilt thou fail
to use so great a privilege? Fly to Him, tell Him
all thy wants. Use Him constantly by faith at all
times. If some dark providence has beclouded
thee, use thy God as a "sun;" if some strong
enemy has beset thee, find in Jehovah a "shield,"
for He is a sun and
shield to His people. If thou hast lost thy way
in the mazes of life, use Him as a "guide," for
He will direct thee. Whatever thou art, and
wherever thou art, remember God is just what thou
wantest, and just where thou wantest, and that He
can do all thou wantest.
Evening: All Hail King Jesus
"The Lord is King for ever and ever." --Psalm 10:16
Jesus Christ is no despotic claimant of divine
right, but He is really and truly the Lord's
anointed! "It hath pleased the Father that in Him
should all fulness dwell." God hath given to Him
all power and all authority. As the Son of man,
He is now head over all things to His church, and
He reigns over heaven, and earth, and hell, with
the keys of life and death at His girdle. Certain
princes have delighted to call themselves kings
by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus
Christ is such in His church. If it could be put
to the vote whether He should be King in the
church, every believing heart would crown Him. O
that we could crown Him more gloriously than we
do! We would count no expense to be wasted that
could glorify Christ. Suffering would be
pleasure, and loss would be gain, if thereby we
could surround His brow with brighter crowns, and
make Him more glorious in the eyes of men and
angels. Yes, He shall reign. Long live the King!
All hail to Thee, King Jesus! Go forth, ye virgin
souls who love your Lord, bow at His feet, strew
His way with the lilies of your love, and the
roses of your gratitude: "Bring forth the royal
diadem, and crown Him Lord of all."
Moreover, our Lord Jesus is King in Zion by right
of conquest: He has taken and carried by storm
the hearts of His people, and has slain their
enemies who held them in cruel bondage. In the
Red Sea of His own blood, our Redeemer has
drowned the Pharaoh of our sins: shall He not be
King in Jeshurun? He has delivered us from the
iron yoke and heavy curse of the law: shall not
the Liberator be crowned? We are His portion,
whom He has taken out of the hand of the Amorite
with His sword and with His bow: who shall snatch
His conquest from His hand? All hail, King Jesus!
we gladly own Thy gentle sway! Rule in our hearts
for ever, Thou lovely Prince of Peace.
Morning: The Promises of God
"Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which
Thou hast caused me to hope." --Psalm 119:49
Whatever your especial need may be, you may
readily find some promise in the Bible suited to
it. Are you faint and feeble because your way is
rough and you are weary? Here is the promise--"He
giveth power to the faint." When you read such a
promise, take it back to the great Promiser, and ask Him to
fulfil His own word. Are you seeking after
Christ, and thirsting for closer communion with
Him? This promise shines like a star upon
you--"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled." Take
that promise to the throne continually; do not
plead anything else, but go to God over and over
again with this--"Lord, Thou hast said it, do as
Thou hast said." Are you distressed because of sin, and
burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities?
Listen to these words--"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy
transgressions, and will no more remember thy
sins." You have no merit of your own to plead why
He should pardon you, but plead His written
engagements and He will perform them. Are you
afraid lest you should not be able to hold on to the end, lest, after
having thought yourself a child of God, you
should prove a castaway? If that is your state,
take this word of grace to the throne and plead
it: "The mountains may depart, and the hills may
be removed, but the covenant of My love shall not
depart from thee." If you have lost the sweet
sense of the Saviour's presence, and are seeking
Him with a sorrowful heart, remember the
promises: "Return unto Me, and I will return unto
you;" "For a small moment have I forsaken thee,
but with great mercies will I gather thee."
Banquet your faith upon God's own word, and
whatever your fears or wants, repair to the Bank
of Faith with your Father's note of hand, saying,
"Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which
Thou hast caused me to hope."
Evening: Hardhearted
"All the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted." --Ezekiel 3:7
Are there no exceptions? No, not one. Even the
favoured race are thus described. Are the best so
bad?--then what must the worst be? Come, my
heart, consider how far thou hast a share in this
universal accusation, and while considering, be
ready to take shame unto thyself herein thou
mayst have been guilty. The first charge is
impudence, or hardness of forehead, a want of
holy shame, an unhallowed boldness in evil.
Before my conversion, I could sin and feel no
compunction, hear of my guilt and yet remain
unhumbled, and even confess my iniquity and
manifest no inward humiliation on account of it.
For a sinner to go to God's house and pretend to
pray to Him and praise Him argues a
brazen-facedness of the worst kind! Alas! since
the day of my new birth I have doubted my Lord to
His face, murmured unblushingly in His presence,
worshipped before Him in a slovenly manner, and
sinned without bewailing myself concerning it.
If my forehead were not as an adamant, harder
than flint, I should have far more holy fear, and
a far deeper contrition of spirit. Woe is me, I
am one of the impudent house of Israel. The
second charge is hardheartedness, and I must not
venture to plead innocent here. Once I had
nothing but a heart of stone, and although
through grace I now have a new and fleshy heart,
much of my former obduracy remains. I am not
affected by the death of Jesus as I ought to be;
neither am I moved by the ruin of my fellow men,
the wickedness of the times, the chastisement of
my heavenly Father, and my own failures, as I
should be. O that my heart would melt at the
recital of my Saviour's sufferings and death.
Would to God I were rid of this nether millstone
within me, this hateful body of death. Blessed be
the name of the Lord, the disease is not
incurable, the Saviour's precious blood is the
universal solvent, and me, even me, it will
effectually soften, till my heart melts as wax before the fire.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Mailing List Jesus-Net Ministry Indonesia - JNM -
Daftar : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Keluar : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Posting: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bantuan Moderator : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WebSite: http://jnm.clear-net.com (Webmaster wanted!)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jesus-net/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
