From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 01-22-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Dependent on Grace
Evening Title: Pruning for Fruitfulness
Do you enjoy this devotional? Send it on to a friend!
____________________________________________________________
Morning: Dependent on Grace
"Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which
is among the trees of the forest?" --Ezekiel 15:2
These words are for the humbling of God's people; they are called God's vine,
but what are they by nature more than others? They, by God's goodness, have
become fruitful, having been planted in a good soil; the Lord hath trained them
upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to His glory; but
what are they without their God? What are they without the continual influence
of the Spirit, begetting fruitfulness in them? O believer, learn to reject
pride, seeing that thou hast no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast
nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to
God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor.
Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast. Consider what thou wouldst
have been but for divine grace. Look upon thyself as thou art now. Doth not thy
conscience reproach thee? Do not thy thousand wanderings stand before thee, and
tell thee that thou art unworthy to be called His son? And if He hath made thee
anything, art thou not taught thereby that it is grace which hath made thee to
differ?
Great believer, thou wouldst have been a great sinner if God had not made thee
to differ. O thou who art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have been as valiant
for error if grace had not laid hold upon thee. Therefore, be not proud, though
thou hast a large estate--a wide domain of grace, thou hadst not once a single
thing to call thine own except thy sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation,
that thou, who hast borrowed everything, shouldst think of exalting thyself; a
poor dependent pensioner upon the bounty of thy Saviour, one who hath a life
which dies without fresh streams of life from Jesus, and yet proud! Fie on
thee, O silly heart!
Evening: Pruning for Fruitfulness
"Doth Job fear God for nought?" --Job 1:9
This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright man of old, but
there are many in the present day concerning whom it might be asked with
justice, for they love God after a fashion because He prospers them; but if
things went ill with them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God.
If they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed conversion the
world has gone prosperously with them, then they will love God in their poor
carnal way; but if they endure adversity, they rebel against the Lord.
Their love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard,
not to the master
of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his reward in the
next life, and
to endure hardness in this. The promise of the old covenant is adversity.
Remember Christ's
words--"Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit"--What? "He purgeth it, that
it may bring
forth fruit." If you bring forth fruit, you will have to endure affliction.
"Alas!" you say, "that
is a terrible prospect." But this affliction works out such precious results,
that the
Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations,
because as his
tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus.
Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod.
Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but
rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you
will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from
clinging to the present, and made to long for those eternal things which are so
soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do
serve God for nought, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the
future.
==========================================
Daily devotions for 01-23-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Christ, Our Brother
Evening Title: Remember His Love
Do you enjoy this devotional? Send it on to a friend!
____________________________________________________________
Morning: Christ, Our Brother
"I have exalted one chosen out of the people." --Psalm 89:19
Why was Christ chosen out of the people? Speak, my heart, for heart-thoughts
are best. Was it not that He might be able to be our brother, in the blest tie
of kindred blood? Oh, what relationship there is between Christ and the
believer! The believer can say, "I have a Brother in heaven; I may be poor, but
I have a Brother who is rich, and is a King, and will He suffer me to want
while He is on His throne? Oh, no! He loves me; He is my Brother." Believer,
wear this blessed thought, like a necklace of diamonds, around the neck of thy
memory; put it, as a golden ring, on the finger of recollection, and use it as
the King's own seal, stamping the petitions of thy faith with confidence of
success. He is a brother born for adversity, treat Him as such.
Christ was also chosen out of the people that He might know our wants and
sympathize with us. "He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without
sin." In all our sorrows we have His sympathy. Temptation, pain,
disappointment, weakness, weariness, poverty--He knows them all, for He has
felt all. Remember this, Christian, and let it comfort thee. However difficult
and painful thy road, it is marked by the footsteps of thy Saviour; and even
when thou reachest the dark valley of the shadow of death, and the deep waters
of the swelling Jordan, thou wilt find His footprints there. In all places
whithersoever we go, He has been our forerunner; each burden we have to carry,
has once been laid on the shoulders of Immanuel.
"His way was much rougher and darker than mine.
Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?"
Take courage! Royal feet have left a blood-red track upon the road, and
consecrated the thorny path for ever.
Evening: Remember His Love
"We will remember Thy love more than wine." --Song of Solomon 1:4
Jesus will not let His people forget His love. If all the love they have
enjoyed should be
forgotten, He will visit them with fresh love.
"Do you forget my cross?" says He, "I will cause you to remember it; for at My
table I will
manifest Myself anew to you. Do you forget what I did for you in the
council-chamber of eternity?
I will remind you of it, for you shall need a counsellor, and shall find Me
ready at your
call." Mothers do not let their children forget them. If the boy has gone to
Australia, and does
not write home, his mother writes--"Has John forgotten his mother?" Then there
comes back a
sweet epistle, which proves that the gentle reminder was not in vain. So is it
with Jesus, He
says to us, "Remember Me," and our response is, "We will remember Thy love."
We will remember Thy love and its matchless history. It is ancient as the glory
which Thou hadst with the Father before the world was. We remember, O Jesus,
Thine eternal love when Thou didst become our Surety, and espouse us as Thy
betrothed. We remember the love which suggested the sacrifice of Thyself, the
love which, until the fulness of time, mused over that sacrifice, and long for
the hour whereof in the volume of the book it was written of Thee, "Lo, I
come." We remember Thy love, O Jesus as it was manifest to us in Thy holy life,
from the manger of Bethlehem to the garden of Gethsemane. We track Thee from
the cradle to the grave--for every word and deed of Thine was love--and we
rejoice in Thy love, which death did not exhaust; Thy love which shone
resplendent in Thy resurrection. We remember that
burning fire of love which will never let Thee hold Thy peace until Thy chosen
ones be all
safely housed, until Zion be glorified, and Jerusalem settled on her
everlasting foundations
of light and love in heaven.
[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]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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/
