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Daily devotions for 03-23-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Instructive Prayer
Evening Title: In Answer of Christ's Prayer
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Morning: Instructive Prayer
"And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed." --Matthew
26:39
There are several instructive features in our Saviour's prayer in His hour of
trial. It was lonely prayer. He withdrew even from His three favoured
disciples. Believer, be much in solitary
prayer, especially in times of trial. Family prayer, social prayer, prayer in
the Church, will
not suffice, these are very precious, but the best beaten spice will smoke in
your censer in
your private devotions, where no ear hears but God's.
It was humble prayer. Luke says He knelt, but another evangelist says He "fell
on His face." Where, then, must be THY place, thou humble servant of the great
Master? What dust and ashes should cover thy head! Humility gives us good
foot-hold in prayer. There is no hope of
prevalence with God unless we abase ourselves that He may exalt us in due time.
It was filial prayer. "Abba, Father." You will find it a stronghold in the day
of trial to plead
your adoption. You have no rights as a subject, you have forfeited them by your
treason; but
nothing can forfeit a child's right to a father's protection. Be not afraid to
say, "My Father,
hear my cry."
Observe that it was persevering prayer. He prayed three times. Cease not until
you prevail. Be as the importunate widow, whose continual coming earned what
her first supplication could not win. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same
with thanksgiving.
Lastly, it was the prayer of resignation.
"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."
Yield, and God yields. Let it be as God wills, and God will determine for the
best. Be thou
content to leave thy prayer in his hands, who knows when to give, and how to
give, and what to give, and what to withhold. So pleading, earnestly,
importunately, yet with humility and
resignation, thou shalt surely prevail.
Evening: In Answer of Christ's Prayer
"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am."
--John 17:24
O death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading branches
weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away the excellent of the earth, in
whom is all our delight? If thou must use thine axe, use it upon the trees
which yield no fruit; thou mightest be thanked then. But why wilt thou fell the
goodly cedars of Lebanon? O stay thine axe, and spare the righteous. But no, it
must not be; death smites the goodliest of our friends; the most generous, the
most prayerful, the most holy, the most devoted must die. And why? It is
through Jesus' prevailing prayer--"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou
hast given Me, be with Me where I am." It is that which bears them on eagle's
wings to heaven.
Every time a believer mounts from this earth to paradise, it is an answer to
Christ's prayer. A
good old divine remarks, "Many times Jesus and His people pull against one
another in prayer.
You bend your knee in prayer and say 'Father, I will that Thy saints be with me
where I am'; Christ says, 'Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given
Me, be with Me where I am.'" Thus the disciple is at cross-purposes with his
Lord.
The soul cannot be in both places: the beloved one cannot be with Christ and
with you too. Now, which pleader shall win the day? If you had your choice; if
the King should step from His throne, and say, "Here are two supplicants
praying in opposition to one another, which shall be answered?" Oh! I am sure,
though it were agony, you would start from your feet, and say, "Jesus, not my
will, but Thine be done." You would give up your prayer for your loved one's
life, if you could realize the thoughts that Christ is praying in the opposite
direction--"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am." Lord, Thou shalt have them. By faith we let them go.
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Daily devotions for 03-22-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Intimacy With His Sorrow
Evening Title: Powerless
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Morning: Intimacy With His Sorrow
"Ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone." --John
16:32
Few had fellowship with the sorrows of Gethsemane. The majority of the
disciples were
not sufficiently advanced in grace to be admitted to behold the mysteries of
"the agony." Occupied with the passover feast at their own houses, they
represent the many who live upon the letter, but are mere s as to the
spirit of the gospel. To twelve, nay, to eleven only was the privilege given to
enter Gethsemane and see "this great sight." Out of the eleven, eight were left
at a distance; they had fellowship, but not of that intimate sort to which men
greatly beloved are admitted. Only three highly favoured ones could approach
the veil of our Lord's mysterious sorrow: within that veil even these must not
intrude; a stone's-cast distance must be left between. He must tread the
wine-press alone, and of the people there must be none with Him. Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee, represent the few eminent, experienced saints, who may be
written down as "Fathers;" these having done business on great waters, can in
some degree measure the huge Atlantic waves of their Redeemer's passion.
To some selected spirits it is given, for the good of others, and to strengthen
them for future, special, and tremendous conflict, to enter the inner circle
and hear the pleadings of the suffering High Priest; they have fellowship with
Him in his sufferings, and are made
conformable unto His . Yet even these cannot penetrate the secret places
of the Saviour's woe.
"Thine unknown sufferings" is the remarkable expression of the Greek liturgy:
there was an
inner chamber in our Master's grief, shut out from human knowledge and
fellowship. There Jesus is "left alone." Here Jesus was more than ever an
"Unspeakable gift!" Is not Watts right when he sings--
"And all the unknown joys he gives, Were bought with agonies unknown."
Evening: Powerless
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?"
--Job 38:31
If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us
how puny we
are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as
one of the
beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn.
When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain
their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in
winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons evolve according
to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change
therein. Lord, what is man?
In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all hands.
When the Holy
Spirit sheds abroad His delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning
and malice of
men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the Comforter. When
He deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot
resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it
than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills
it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in
justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul , who can give him liberty?
He alone can remove the winter of spiritual from an individual or a
people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but He. What a blessing it is
that He can do it. O that He would perform the wonder to-night. Lord, end my
winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my longings raise my soul
out of her and dulness, but all things are possible with Thee. I need
celestial influences, the clear shinings of Thy love, the beams of Thy grace,
the light of Thy countenance, these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from
sin and temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work
wonders in me, and for me. Amen.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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