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Daily devotions for 02-13-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: What Manner of Love
Evening Title: Free From Guilt
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Morning: What Manner of Love
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the
sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God." --1 John 3:1,2
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Consider who we
were, and what we feel ourselves to be even now when corruption is powerful in
us, and you will wonder at our adoption. Yet we are called "the sons of God."
What a high relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it brings! What
care and
tenderness the son expects from his father, and what love the father feels
towards the son! But all that, and more than that, we now have through Christ.
As for the temporary drawback of suffering with the elder brother, this we
accept as an honour: "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him
not." We are content to be unknown with Him in His humiliation, for we are to
be exalted with Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." That is easy to
read, but it is not so easy to feel.
How is it with your heart this morning? Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow?
Does corruption rise within your spirit, and grace seem like a poor spark
trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Fear not, it is neither
your graces nor feelings on which you are to live: you must live simply by
faith on Christ. With all these things against us, now--in the very depths of
our sorrow, wherever we may be--now, as much in the valley as on the mountain,
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God." "Ah, but," you say, "see how I am
arrayed! my graces are not bright; my righteousness does not shine with
apparent glory." But read the next: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." The Holy Spirit
shall purify our minds, and divine power shall refine our bodies, then shall we
see Him as He is.
Evening: Free From Guilt
"There is therefore now no condemnation." --Romans 8:1
Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou art actually and
effectually cleared
from guilt; thou art led out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a
bond-slave; thou art
delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art freed from sin, and canst
walk at large as a freeman, thy Saviour's blood has procured thy full
discharge. Thou hast a right now to approach thy Father's throne. No flames of
vengeance are there to scare thee now; no fiery sword; justice cannot smite the
innocent. Thy disabilities are taken away: thou wast once unable to see thy
Father's face: thou canst see it now. Thou couldst not speak with Him: but now
thou hast access with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon thee; but
thou hast no fear of it now, for how can there be punishment for the guiltless?
He who believeth is not condemned, and cannot be punished. And more than all,
the privileges thou mightst have enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine
now thou art justified. All the blessings which thou wouldst have had if thou
hadst kept the law, and more, are thine, because Christ has kept it for thee.
All the love and the acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of
God, belong to thee, because Christ was perfectly obedient on thy behalf, and
hath imputed all His merits to thy account, that thou mightst be exceeding rich
through Him, who for thy sake became exceeding poor. Oh! how great the debt of
love and gratitude thou owest to thy Saviour!
"A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear with Thy righteousness on,
My person and offerings to bring:
The terrors of law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view."
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Daily devotions for 02-12-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Make Room for Consolation
Evening Title: The Present Immanuel
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Morning: Make Room for Consolation
"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also
aboundeth by Christ."
--2 Corinthians 1:5
There is a blessed proportion. The Ruler of Providence bears a pair of
scales--in this side
He puts His people's trials, and in that He puts their consolations. When the
scale of trial is
nearly empty, you will always find the scale of consolation in nearly the same
condition; and
when the scale of trials is full, you will find the scale of consolation just
as heavy. When the
black clouds gather most, the light is the more brightly revealed to us. When
the night lowers
and the tempest is coming on, the Heavenly Captain is always closest to His
crew. It is a
blessed thing, that when we are most cast down, then it is that we are most
lifted up by the
consolations of the Spirit. One reason is, because trials make more room for
consolation. Great hearts can only be made by great troubles.
The spade of trouble digs the reservoir of comfort deeper, and makes more room
for
consolation. God comes into our heart--He finds it full--He begins to break our
comforts and to
make it empty; then there is more room for grace.
The humbler a man lies, the more comfort he will always have, because he will
be more fitted to receive it.
Another reason why we are often most happy in our troubles, is this--then we
have the closest
dealings with God. When the barn is full, man can live without God: when the
purse is bursting with gold, we try to do without so much prayer. But once take
our gourds away, and we want our God; once cleanse the idols out of the house,
then we are compelled to honour Jehovah. "Out of the depths have I cried unto
thee, O Lord." There is no cry so good as that which comes from the bottom of
the mountains; no prayer half so hearty as that which comes up from the depths
of the soul, through deep trials and afflictions. Hence they bring us to God,
and we are happier; for nearness to God is happiness. Come, troubled believer,
fret not over your heavy troubles, for they are the heralds of weighty mercies.
Evening: The Present Immanuel
"He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for
ever."--John 14:16
Great Father revealed Himself to believers of old before the coming of His Son,
and was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the God Almighty.
Then Jesus came, and the ever-blessed Son in His own proper person, was the
delight of His
people's eyes. At the time of the Redeemer's ascension, the Holy Spirit became
the head of the present dispensation, and His power was gloriously manifested
in and after Pentecost. He
remains at this hour the present Immanuel--God with us, dwelling in and with
His people,
quickening, guiding, and ruling in their midst.
Is His presence recognized as it ought to be? We cannot control His working; He
is most sovereign in all His operations, but are we sufficiently anxious to
obtain His help, or sufficiently watchful lest we provoke Him to withdraw His
aid?
Without Him we can do nothing, but by His almighty energy the most
extraordinary results
can be produced: everything depends upon his manifesting or concealing His
power.
Do we always look up to Him both for our inner life and our outward service
with the respectful dependence which is fitting? Do we not too often run before
His call and act independently of His aid? Let us humble ourselves this evening
for past neglects, and now entreat the heavenly dew to rest upon us, the sacred
oil to anoint us, the celestial flame to burn within us. The Holy Ghost is no
temporary gift, He abides with the saints.
We have but to seek Him aright, and He will be found of us. He is jealous, but
He is pitiful; if
He leaves in anger, He returns in mercy. Condescending and tender, He does not
weary of
us, but awaits to be gracious still.
Sin has been hammering my heart
Unto a hardness, void of love,
Let supplying grace to cross his art
Drop from above.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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