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Daily devotions for 09-10-2004:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: See Jesus
Evening Title: Evening Wolves
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Morning: See Jesus
"And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came
unto him." --Mark 3:13
Here was sovereignty. Impatient spirits may fret and fume, because they are not called
to the highest places in the ministry; but reader be it thine to rejoice that Jesus
calleth whom He wills. If He shall leave me to be a doorkeeper in His house, I will
cheerfully bless Him for His grace in permitting me to do anything in His service. The
call of Christ's servants comes from above. Jesus stands on the mountain, evermore
above the world in holiness, earnestness, love and power. Those whom He calls must go
up the mountain to Him, they must seek to rise to His level by living in constant
communion with Him.
They may not be able to mount to classic honours, or attain scholastic eminence, but
they must like Moses go up into the mount of God and have familiar intercourse with
the unseen God, or they will never be fitted to proclaim the gospel of peace. Jesus
went apart to hold high fellowship with the Father, and we must enter into the same
divine companionship if we would bless our fellowmen. No wonder that the apostles were
clothed with power when they came down fresh from the mountain where Jesus was.
This morning we must endeavour to ascend the mount of communion, that there we may be
ordained to the lifework for which we are set apart. Let us not see the face of man
to-day till we have seen Jesus. Time spent with Him is laid out at blessed interest.
We too shall cast out devils and work wonders if we go down into the world
girded with that divine energy which Christ alone can give. It is of no use going to
the Lord's battle till we are armed with heavenly weapons.
We must see Jesus, this is essential. At the mercy-seat we will linger till He shall
manifest Himself unto us as He doth not unto the world, and until we can truthfully
say, "We were with Him in the Holy Mount."
Evening: Evening Wolves
"Evening wolves." --Habakkuk 1:8
While preparing the present volume, this particular expression recurred to me so
frequently, that in order to be rid of its constant importunity I determined to give a
page
to it. The evening wolf, infuriated by a day of hunger, was fiercer and more ravenous
than he would have been in the morning. May not the furious creature represent our
doubts and fears after a day of distraction of mind, losses in business, and perhaps
ungenerous tauntings from our fellow men? How our thoughts howl in our ears, "Where is
now thy God?" How voracious and greedy they are, swallowing up all suggestions of
comfort, and remaining as hungry as before. Great Shepherd, slay these evening wolves,
and bid Thy sheep lie down in green pastures, undisturbed by insatiable unbelief. How
like are the fiends of hell to evening wolves, for when the flock of Christ are in a
cloudy and dark day, and their sun seems going down, they hasten to tear and to
devour. They will scarcely attack the Christian in the daylight of faith, but in the
gloom of soul conflict they fall upon him. O Thou who hast laid down Thy life for the
sheep, preserve them from the fangs of the wolf.
False teachers who craftily and industriously hunt for the precious life, devouring
men by their false-hoods, are as dangerous and detestable as evening wolves. Darkness
is their element, deceit is their character, destruction is their end. We are most in
danger from them when they wear the sheep's skin. Blessed is he who is kept from them,
for thousands are made the prey of grievous wolves that enter within the fold of the
church.
What a wonder of grace it is when fierce persecutors are converted, for then the wolf
dwells with the lamb, and men of cruel ungovernable dispositions become gentle and
teachable. O Lord, convert many such: for such we will pray to-night.
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Daily devotions for 09-12-2004:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: A Jealous God
Evening Title: Faith Conquers All
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Morning: A Jealous God
"God is jealous." --Nahum 1:2
Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did He choose you? He cannot bear
that you should choose another. Did He buy you with His own blood? He cannot endure
that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He
loved you with such a love that He would not stop in heaven without you; He would
sooner die than you should perish, and He cannot endure that anything should stand
between your heart's love and Himself. He is very jealous of your trust. He will not
permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot bear that you should hew out broken
cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him,
He is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own
wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend--worst of all, when we trust in any works of our
own, He is displeased, and will chasten us that He may bring us to Himself. He is also
very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as
with Jesus. To abide in Him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to
find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our
fellow Christians to secret intercourse with Him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord.
He would fain have us abide in Him, and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself; and
many of the trials which He sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from
the creature, and fixing them more closely upon Himself. Let this jealousy which would
keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if He loves us so much as to
care thus about our love we may be sure that He will suffer nothing to harm us, and
will protect us from all our enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our
hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our
eyes to all the fascinations of the world!
Evening: Faith Conquers All
"I will sing of mercy and judgment." --Psalm 101:1
Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet
made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as
she I cries, "I will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing."
Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath.
Faith looks up at the cloud, and sees that
"Tis big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on her head."
There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards us. For, first, the
trial is not so heavy as it might have been; next, the trouble is not so severe as we
deserved to have borne; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden which
others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal;
there is not a drop of God's wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love
gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, "This is
a badge of honour,
for the child must feel the rod"; and then she sings of the sweet result of her
sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, "These light
afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory." So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to
conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory
amid the
thickest of the fray.
"All I meet I find assists me
In my path to heavenly joy:
Where, though trials now attend me,
Trials never more annoy."
"Blest there with a weight of glory,
Still the path I'll ne'er forget,
But, exulting, cry, it led me
To my blessed Saviour's seat."
Daily devotions for 09-13-2004:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Useful to Many
Evening Title: He Receives Sinners
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Morning: Useful to Many
"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain also filleth the
pools."
--Psalm 84:6
This teaches us that the comfort obtained by a one may often prove serviceable to
another; just as wells would be used by the company who came after. We read some book
full of consolation, which is like Jonathan's rod, dropping with honey. Ah! we think
our brother has been here before us, and digged this well for us as well as for
himself. Many a "Night of Weeping,"
"Midnight Harmonies," an "Eternal Day," "A Crook in the Lot," a "Comfort for
Mourners," has been a well digged by a pilgrim for himself, but has proved quite as
useful to others. Specially we notice this in the Psalms, such as that beginning, "Why
art thou cast down, O my soul?" Travellers have been delighted to see the footprint of
man on a barren shore, and we love to see the waymarks of pilgrims while passing
through the vale of tears.
The pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from the top instead of the
bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a
well, but heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared against the day of battle,
but safety is of the Lord. The means are connected with the end, but they do not of
themselves produce it. See here the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become
useful as reservoirs for the water; labour is not lost, but yet it does not supersede
divine help.
Grace may well be compared to rain for its purity, for its refreshing and vivifying
influence, for its coming alone from above, and for the sovereignty with which it is
given or withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the wells they
have digged be filled with water! Oh, what are means and ordinances without the smile
of heaven! They are as clouds without rain, and pools without water.
O God of love, open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing!
Evening: He Receives Sinners
"This man receiveth sinners." --Luke 15:2
Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men,
holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners--this Man receiveth sinners. This
Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces--this
Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of
love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful--
they are of our own race; but that He, the offended God, against whom the
transgression has been committed, should take upon Himself the form of a servant, and
bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile,
this is marvellous.
"This Man receiveth sinners"; not, however, that they may remain sinners, but He
receives them that He may pardon their sins, justify their persons, cleanse their
hearts by His purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy
Ghost, and enable them to serve Him, to show forth His praise, and to have communion
with
Him. Into His heart's love He receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and
wears them as jewels in His crown; plucks them as brands from the burning, and
preserves them as costly monuments of His mercy. None are so precious in Jesus' sight
as the sinners for whom He died.
When Jesus receives sinners, He has not some out-of-doors reception place, no casual
ward where He charitably entertains them as men do passing beggars, but He opens the
golden gates of His royal heart, and receives the sinner right into Himself--yea, He
admits the humble penitent into personal union and makes Him a member of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is
still most sure this evening, He is still receiving sinners: would to God sinners
would receive Him.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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